There’s something special about growing up near the ocean. I feel fortunate that my mom moved us to Charleston, South Carolina when I was in the sixth grade. I got to spend my formative years among the rivers, creeks and marshlands near the Atlantic.

The Charleston area experiences some pretty extreme tides. You start to pick up tide timing and lingo as a part of daily life. High tide. Low tide. King tide. Neap tide. 

When I was growing up, the harbor workers and fishermen always knew the tide times instinctively. The surfers had a special phone number they would call that would give them the tide times for the day. 

The environment around the city changes a lot depending on the tide. 

At low tide, the marshlands are completely exposed. You can see all the vegetation and wildlife, the crabs scurrying from hole to hole. When you’re near the water, the seascape feels empty. And you can smell the exposed pluff mudd, which isn’t the most pleasant odor but you get used to it. In the Lowcountry, you can tell low tide from both sight and smell. 

At high tide, the place is bursting at the seams. Waterways spill over onto the streets, especially when it rains. The marsh disappears almost completely – a flood of water in every direction. Everything feels full, wet and lush.

There’s nothing we can do about the tides. They come and go on their own time. Well technically, they go in and out on the moon’s time. But the tides don’t abide by our watch. Tides do their own thing.

There’s some beauty to that. This big force of nature, a wall of water going in and out each day irrespective of what us humans think or feel. It’s like a forced natural purge, once per day.

I’ve learned that life has the same fluctuations. Things come and go. People come and go. Opportunities and money, too. 

And oftentimes, we resist the changes. We get comfortable with the high tide and forget that it needs to go out again. We love it when things are full and plentiful. It makes us feel safe and secure.

But the tide always goes out when it’s ready, naturally, despite our desire to set our own timing. We want things to stay put when they are in our favor, and to change only when we don’t like our circumstances. Life doesn’t work like that. You have to accept the vicissitudes.

So when things in my life seem to be going in a new direction – even when things feel “good” – I can feel my intuition preparing for a big clean out. I feel the tide starting to reverse, ready to go out. Ready to simplify everything and take me back to the basics. 

I have a natural tendency to want to get “busy” during those periods. To do more. To push harder. To resist the natural fluctuation of the tide.

But I’m learning that the key during those times is to let go and surrender to the outgoing tide. Life is telling me to let it reorganize itself: “Your involvement isn’t required at the moment, thank you.”

Besides, the tide always comes back in, bringing me new life and a fresh perspective.