Have you ever sat in the middle of a quiet room, feeling the heavy weight of your own thoughts, and felt like the world was somehow stuck on you? Mary Oliver’s beautiful words remind us that while our internal storms can feel all-consuming, there is a much larger, much more rhythmic rhythm happening all around us. When we feel miserable or lost, we tend to turn inward, focusing entirely on our own perceived failures or anxieties. We become the center of our own tiny, turbulent universe, forgetting that the tide continues to pull and the wind continues to blow, indifferent to our personal struggles.

I think about this often when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by my own little duckling worries. There was a Tuesday not too long ago when I felt completely stuck, staring at a pile of unfinished tasks and feeling like I was failing at everything. I felt so small and so much in need of an answer. But then, I looked out the window and watched the trees swaying in the breeze. The trees weren't asking for permission to grow or worrying if they were swaying correctly; they were simply doing what they were meant to do. The world has a way of reminding us that its processes are much larger than our momentary distress.

It is easy to feel like our sadness is a permanent state of being, but the sea reminds us that everything is in motion. The waves do not stop to ask if we are okay before they roll in; they simply follow their nature. This isn't to say that our feelings don't matter, but rather that we don't have to carry the responsibility of fixing the entire world's rhythm. The sea's response, 'Excuse me, I have work to do,' is such a gentle way of saying that life persists, and there is a beautiful, busy continuity to existence that exists even when we feel we have nothing left to give.

Next time you feel that wave of misery washing over you, try to step outside your own head for just a moment. Listen to the wind, watch the clouds move, or notice the steady beat of your own heart. Allow yourself to be a part of the world's work rather than a victim of your own thoughts. You don't have to have all the answers today; sometimes, it is enough to simply exist alongside the waves as they roll in and out.