I spent 10 glorious days at the beach this past summer.
The beach is my happy place.
I love to wake up before the family and grab a cup of coffee and set off to walk the beach. I always grab a baggie and set off looking for treasures.
The very serious beach treasure hunters are out at this very early time, before the seagulls catch the crabs (beach lingo for early bird catching the worms), and it is my favorite time.
My treasure of choice this summer was shark teeth.
Last year while searching for treasures, a lady I met on the beach taught me how to find shark teeth and it works every time. She was so sweet and would find a shark tooth and then teach me what to look for and how to find them using her technique. I ended up with a bag of 18 shark teeth last year. This year, I ended up with over 100 shark teeth and enjoyed every last minute.
While searching for my treasure, I meet people (fast friends as my family calls it) and I love it. We end up talking and asking what you are looking for on the beach and then we do the unthinkable…. we help each other find treasures.
One mom wanted to learn how to find shark teeth, so I taught her like the nice lady taught me last year. She was having so much fun and finding more than me. There was a sweet grandma looking for sea biscuits that were not broken and I joined her in her hunt. One sweet fast friend was looking for conk shells, so a group of us learned what to look for and then helped her.
We HELPED each other.
Complete strangers helping each other, no questions asked. We didn’t know each other’s careers, religious views, political stance and it didn’t matter – we just helped each other.
This year, it hit me. If I can help others search for their treasure on the beach and encourage them to find their treasure (and even share some of our own treasures), why can’t I do that in my everyday non-vacation life with the people I meet every day?
What treasure are you seeking?
I’m not talking about ocean treasures or even material possessions. I can be quite deep when I spend 10 days at the beach and have time to adjust my perspective.
What are you seeking?
A fresh start, peace in your life, friends, a mentor, new hobby, exercise routine or maybe even something more personal like a new outlook on life, someone to listen, a purpose, a network to find a job, or encouragement? Whatever you are searching for and the treasures that you seek, let’s get out of our comfort zone and share what we seek to find.
What if we HELPED each other find what we are looking for in life?
It is a shift to take our eyes off our own agenda and seek to help others in their hunt for the treasures they seek in our everyday life.
After all, the real treasure is helping someone find what THEY are looking for.
