Paddleboard, thoughts and postpartum
The adventure of being a mother for the second time and the challenge of finding new forces in the hand of nature. A journey into the depths of being, to dive for the true meaning of life.
As soon as the doctor gave me discharge from the well-known “quarantine”, I climbed a table. I wanted to try a sport that had tempted me a lot during pregnancy: the standup paddleboarding (SUP). This sport has grown a lot in recent years. Here, in Miami, is one of the outdoor sports that added more new fans.
I tell you what it is: one is standing on a table similar to a surfboard but bigger, and moves in the water helped by a long paddle. I see it as a combination of surf and kayak.
And so, five weeks after receiving the gift of having our second child, I got on the Paddleboard.
“With that fear, no one went out to conquer anything, eh!”, A famous phrase from my dear husband. She was up on the board, the sea was too transparent; That transparency that annoys because it allows you to see clearly the underwater world that until then was only part of your imagination. I am a fan of the Rio de la Plata, I love the Argentine delta and for me there it does apply the popular belief “Eyes that do not see, heart that does not feel”, because since I can not see what is under the brown water, walking it does not scare me .
In this crystalline sea, however, I had just seen a mantarraya pass under the table and suddenly I imagined everything I could get to see inside the water; All with what could have an encounter in its habitat. I was thinking of the manatees (they are a kind of marine cows typical of this area), dolphins sharks or other fish. I was happy to have a space of time for myself among so many diapers. However, the fear came to me to visit.
Frederick’s phrase, my husband, amused me. He is often the other side to mark, how life teacher, what is costing and must be overcome. Suddenly, I remembered the geography lessons, from Christopher Columbus to Robinson Crusoe, and I pushed myself out into the bay to see what was going on.
“I do not look down, I just focus on looking forward. If I look down I do not know what I can find, then I just look forward and move forward. ” Second phrase celebrated in full oar, this time from my neighbor, one day we went to do Paddleboard together. How important it is to have our eyes on the front, without letting ourselves be paralyzed by what we imagine there may be underneath, right?
“Do whatever you have to do to keep your boat afloat.” Third famous phrase that Americans often say, all the time, in business circles. This phrase also came to my head as I took the first paddles: the most important thing was to stay afloat up the table to continue paddling.
The need for freedom generated by the postpartum and the phrases that resonated in my head gave me the necessary strength to advance, losing the fear of what could happen. Besides, I had to breastfeed in sixty minutes-there was no time to waste! And so I was alone, paddling in the middle of a great bay, Brickell Bay, accompanied only by my thoughts …
Incredible that effect that has water, silence, loneliness, the absence of electronic connection to soften the mind. I climbed the table with a sea of thoughts on top, but as I set out to move forward, the sea took over each of them. And I felt that they were asking me to leave them there, because nothing was so important as to take me.
This is Brickell Bay, the day I found a rainbow. Behind, the bridge that goes to the island of Key Biscayne.
The postpartum beats. The need to find a balance between the hours of breastfeeding, the heart and the soul delivered to motherhood, merge with the need to reenergize me. To climb a table to paddle and feel that space renews me to return to my world with more force. As the writer A.S. Byatt: “I think of writing simply in terms of pleasure. It’s the most important thing in my life, doing things. As much as I love my husband and my children, I can love them only because I am the person who does those things. I, who I am, is the person who has the project to do that thing. And because that person does that, all the time, that person is capable of loving all those people. ”
I would love for you to tell me what activities you do to get back to your reenergized world … Do you dare to share them with me?
Until next time, dear reader. Here I am paddling with great gratitude for the postpartum seas and its crystalline waters.