When I was struggling with severe anxiety whilst undergoing chemo for an aggressive breast cancer in 2012, a wonderful friend gave me the following advice: “Be like seaweed”. It didn’t make sense at first, but when it did, it completely changed my life.
Be Like Seaweed
A story about anchoring yourself in the present
When it all feels too much…
When you’re right in the middle of the storm…
When everything feels too scary and too dark to see…
Be like seaweed.
Firmly anchored in the ocean floor,
For all it looks so feeble,
Its incredible power of survival
Lies not in fighting the seemingly relentless, crashing waves,
But in its flexibility –
Its willingness to go with the flow,
To go with the waves,
To be one with the storm
For as long as it lasts,
Only to rest and be still again,
And bathe in the beautiful warm sunlight
Once the clouds have passed.
This bottle is a three-dimensional illustration of that poem and is sealed with beautiful iridescent blue sealing wax, representing the choppy ocean waves.
