Day 29 ocean swim
If you look closely you can see two figures by the water as I run towards the sea. They are a pair of teenage girls who’d been boogie-boarding in the shorebreak. I came back to them immediately after jumping in, concerned by the look on the face of the older girl sitting down on the sand. Sure enough, a stingray had got her, and her foot was bleeding profusely and she was in a lot of pain. I explained that she’d be alright, though the wound would bleed for a long time, and I recommended she get home soon in order to immerse her foot in warm water to dull the pain. She was a trooper, though her foot was a bloody mess and the pain—pulsing like a dozen repeated bee stings—showed clearly on her face. Her dad soon arrived (he’d been surfing further out) to help his daughter hobble home. She asked me if the stingrays were the “squishy” things she felt sometimes on the bottom? I replied I that yes, I thought they were, and I reminded her to shuffle her feet underwater rather than stepping in order to shoo away the stingray and to help avoid stepping directly on them.
I remember when I was stung (jabbed or lanced might be a better word) a few years back and how the pain seemed the most almighty thing I’d ever known, and how the blood stained the beach sands red as it pulsed out of my foot like a tiny red river. No…stingray aren’t anything to take lightly. Though Yumiko is right when she reminds me sometimes that such risks are usually well worth the reward. But isn’t that nearly always true? And isn’t it better to come to the sea and bleed than to stay home and only dream of the sea?
Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow to run again among the stingray. And I hope that teenage girl and her sister will come back again someday, too. Life’s simply too short to stay home.
#GoingAlone #TheGoodLife #RiskOfAvoidingRisk
The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at: https://lnkd.in/gFgfGmY6
OBJECTIVES: 1. Be Always Ready to Die 2. Make Good Use of Time and Resources 3. Develop Good and Sound Life Principles 4. Cultivate Good Emotional Reactions 5. Perform Good Actions 6. Recognize True Limits and Opportunity 7. One Thing Slowly
PRINCIPLES: 1. Principle of War 2. Principle of Reason 3. Homunculus 4. Anchorhold 5. Home of Good and Evil 6. Principle of Purpose 7. Atomic Principle 8. Principle of Nature 9. The Pirate Ride 10. Principle of Maturity 11. Social Principle 12. Public Speaking 13. Temperance 14. Life Will Not Go Well 15. The Horror Show 16. That Which Must Be Borne 17. The Feast of Offal 18. Distraction 19. Agency and The Great Indifference 20. The Best Seat in the House 21. The Restless Man 22. The Path of Wildness 23. The Great Life Adventure 24. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 25. Sin and Damnation 26. Complete Oblivion 27. The Season of Philosophy 28. Bullseye Aim 29. The Uphill Climb 30. Arena and Utility 31. Nothing IS enough 32. The Principle of Fun
#Stoic #Stoicism #StoicPhilosophy
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.