Day Six: the beautiful beaches of Maroubra

Today was a much better day for me. 

On Day Six, I took a trip with my housemates to the beach. Neha had been asking me about going on the trip for days, but I could not give her a reply until last night. 

Looking like the yakuza (japanese triad gang).

What did I end up doing at the beach?

There's only three things any normal person does at the beach. They play with the waves, sun bath, and climb on the rock cliffs. 

I did all three.

My housemates and their mates. 

Lagoon of crystal clear waters amongst the rock cliffs.

Walking and playing at the beach has always seemed to have given me the effect of helping to clear my mind. There is just something in watching the beauty of the waves breaking against the sand and rock cliffs, and there is a joy that comes from trying to evade the crystalline white lapis lazuli waves whilst still trying to keep your clothes dry that takes my mind away from my troubles. Indeed the creation of God is beautiful and marvellous in its own right.

It was helpful to hear from Cosmos, an elderly mate from Lentils who tells me that he had to take his driving exam twice. His words were to sit honestly for my driving exam without any tricks. The words helped to ease my anxiety about the whole driving exam, since I have never driven in Australia till now. Try, and try again, he says.

If there is one thing I can take from all this, I will have to say that is it is not helpful to tell someone who is anxious and depressed "to just recharge their batteries" with God, or just meditate on the words in the Bible..  No matter how much of a believer in God that I am, no one "recharges their battery" nor "gets over the feelings" in the same as another. 

Sometimes the company of someone who gives you their full attention, without the distraction of technological gadgets, and just sits there in silence with you, is really all the comfort I need. You don't need an excuse to hang out. You just enjoy each other's presence and company. Yes, and listening to someone pray for me always helps to put my mind at ease.

To end the day, the group decided to make a trip to Lentils for dinner. I am still not sure whether that was a good choice of action in heading there with me still trying to work out all my stuff, but went we did. The fun part of heading there was I managed to play a trick on Dai, who was working; I entered Lentils having my sunnies put on, realising after a while he really could not really recognise me... :-)