For someone perfectionist and self-sufficient, sometimes we might even reject the idea of holding onto a lifeline.
Almost about 3 years ago, I was experiencing my first banana boat ride in the southern coast of Java. In case you didn’t know, typically for a banana boat to operate, they are best around clear waters and moderate waves. In Indonesia, they are often located around the northern coast where the sea waves are much calmer and are the tropical paradise.
That day, wasn’t exactly a sunny day; the storms were approaching and it’s just another day in the southern coast of Java with its furry of storms, muted sky, and strong waves. Somehow, the banana boat operator thought it was just another day and they were in for some extra dough.
So, my cousins and I bravely hop on to the ride without thinking twice. One of my cousins are normally shying away from this kind of experience but that day, he was really up dancing with the storms, figuratively and literally.
To them, we’re just a tiny morsel ready to be sent into the deepest parts of the ocean
At first, it looked fun. Afterall, I had always wanted to try this ride as I often see it in Bali where they have calm waters and has tropical island vibe. I forgot that day, the ride was in the untamed southern coast of Java. It’s connected to the Indian Ocean where you can easily be swallowed by the strong waves. To them, we’re just a tiny morsel ready to be sent into the deepest parts of the ocean. God knows what kind of fish and sea creatures exist around those waters too.
As the boat that carried the three of us move at speed to about 500 meters from the shore, it made a sudden U-turn that threw us into the ocean. In my mind, we all should be heartily laughing and enjoying the ride. What really happened that time was a struggle to get to the boat again, as the waves were swallowing us without mercy and it started raining too.
That continued for more than 4 times until the ride was over and we were not exactly sent to the shore but dropped almost 50 meters from the coastline. There was one lifeline, a rope that was chained to the shore that should help us to get back safely into the land.
It was drizzling endlessly and the waves were trying to pull me in the middle rather than safely escorting me to the land. I swam with my arms and that time; I felt the shore was so out-of-reach. I did my best, gripping on the rope with one hand and tried to balance my body fighting against the waves.
I glanced my cousin once in a while and he was struggling as much as I did. He had much more strength to swim more faster even though the ocean tried to swallow both of us mercilessly. At the same time, I couldn’t even see my other cousin but that wasn’t really my priority.
I eventually learned to match the pace with the strong waves and used it to my advantage to carry me faster to the shore. I saw my cousins did the same and after sometime, finally my feet reached something familiar, the sand.
My arms were so sore trying to fight the waves and instead of feeling happy about the ride, I told my mom whose waiting on the shore that it was a bad idea to ride the banana boat in such weather. Eventually the three of us got into the land safely but we learned our lesson to never do this kind of ride in the southern coast of Java.
That experience came into the picture again as that reminds me of problems that comes rippling mercilessly into my life from the last couple of years.
Waves can either be problems or trends in our life and society. There’s always something new coming around or problems which seem endless and always trying to swallow us into oblivion. Naturally, we human wants to survive but it all gets murky with ego and pride that we have.
For someone perfectionist and self-sufficient, sometimes we might even reject the idea of holding onto a lifeline. We tried to survive on our own, despite our problems are showing us no mercy. Sometimes, matching our pace with the waves can be its own advantage. We should have not been stubborn to be fixated with our ways just to reach a goal.
It might not be the best/ideal life that we picture it to be. However, at the end of the day, we survive and closer to our goals which somehow makes it all worth it.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Well written, waves do indeed surround us everywhere. It's how we swim through them that matters...
Well-said. It's definitely how we try to survive and swim the waters.
It is a powerful reminder that seeking help doesn’t make us weak—it makes us wise.
Sometimes, we just have to be receptive and hold on to lifeline available for us. I know our ego and pride might have held us back either way, we have to survive.
This is such a nicely written post. Lots of words of wisdom packed into this one. Nice one!
Thank you Relf, one of those days when I remembered that chaotic experience 😄
Everyone nature should be very helpful to each other in this world and at the end good part is u have reach to your goals otherwise it was hard I think
It's definitely harder to go alone. It's doable but harder.
It was a big scare, lucky everyone made it out ok, the waves are always looking to do their best fishing.
Definitely a big scare haha and even I consider myself a good swimming,that waters is no joke.
Knowing how to swim was what helped them control their nerves and fight for their lives.
Next time it's better not to risk it, my friend.🙏