There’s something about the ocean that stimulates every sense – sight, taste, touch, sound, and feel.
Not to mention what it does for your soul.
So whether you like to catch waves or simply watch them from the shore, here are just 11 reasons why you shouldn’t go too long without seeing the sea.
And, subsequently, why you should feel better about splurging on your next vacation…
1. It Helps You Live in the Moment
It’s said that if you live in the past you’ll be depressed, and if you live in the future you’ll be anxious. Yet living in the present moment is perhaps one of life’s greatest struggles for young professionals. If there’s anything that can manage to shut off your perpetually over-thinking mind and force you to actually just be, it’s the ocean and its perfect balance of the instant and the infinite.
2. It’s Calming
For even the most high-strung and over-worked young professionals, nothing facilitates some much-needed relaxation like the sound of the crashing waves combined with a gentle salty breeze. Of course, adding a glass of wine to the mix never hurts much either.
3. It Opens Your Mind
Few things in life have the ability to transport you to a meditative state of mind quite like the ocean does. As much as it inspires living in the moment, it also invites an inevitable opportunity for quiet self-reflection and evaluation.
4. It’s Creatively Inspiring
Because it helps open up your mind and forget about life’s daily noise, the limitless ocean is an ever-reliable creative aid to artists, writers, and musicians around the world.
5. It Heals
The health benefits of salt water are abundant. Salt water helps the appearance of acne and scars, heals cuts and sores, and can even clear out your nasal passages. Not to mention, the sand is a natural exfoliate (who needs a pedicure when the beach is around?)
6. It’s Sensual
If you’re looking to put a little passion back into your relationship, the ocean is a no-fail solution to re-ignite the flame. Warm, salty, sun-kissed bodies and a relaxed state of mind can only lead to good things. Just don’t forget to put the Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel door.
7. It Makes Moments
It’s one thing to find yourself transfixed with the breadth and depth of the ocean and all the good it does for your soul, but it’s another entirely to be lucky enough to share those moments with someone else. For that reason, it has the ability to foster profound connections and powerful moments between people that will be remembered for years to come.
8. It’s a Way to Feel Connected to the Planet
It’s really difficult to feel connected to the earth when the only daily link you have is the feel of your shoes pounding on hard concrete. Covering 70 per cent of the earth’s surface and home to an estimated 2.2 million species, your bond with the planet doesn’t get much stronger than a swim in the ocean. Even better? A dive or snorkel session.
9. It Keeps You Young
In the same vein as the “good for your soul” appeal, the ocean also has the ability to transport you back to an innocent, childlike state. It could be some playful frolicking in the crashing waves, or the way it shuts off all the worries of your adult life, but few things are as rejuvenating for your mind and body as a day at the beach.
10. It Helps You Breathe Easier
Not only is the ocean air a far better alternative to urban pollution, fresh salt air is believed by many to aid in a variety of respiratory problems – from chronic allergies and asthma, all the way to conditions like cystic fibrosis. Even if you don’t experience health issues, inhaling ocean air just feels better. Probably the lack of exhaust.
11. There’s No Sunset Like an Ocean Sunset
Ocean sunsets will never get old. Ever. (And neither will snapping Instagram shots of them.) Take all the great things about the ocean and add the backdrop of a spectacular sunset and everything is amplified even further. Did we mention the ocean can be romantic…
See you at the beach.
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