A yoga instructor said something interesting about horizon lines when I was in Puerto Rico. To defend the importance of outdoor yoga (as if we needed convincing), she said the reason the beach is relaxing for people is because our brains calm down when we are able to see a horizon line. It doesn’t have to be the beach, but it has to be somewhere that we can see the land meet the sky. (see confirming post from unverified but reputable-looking source here). Now that I’m traveling in Nebraska (long story for another time) where horizon lines also abound, the sentiment has been on my mind.
Fact: we are often trapped in cities with tall buildings all around. Our minds get a little claustrophobic because our brains like to see the end.
As adolescents, this goal is tangible. Wait until I finish high school/summer camp/college/whatever. But as adults, ‘the end’ becomes much more nebulous.
For example, here are some of the ‘endings’ in my life I have been totally wrong about:
1.My time living in New York City. (Someone asked me if I would ever live in New York again when I was twenty-four. I swore up and down the answer was no. In the intervening eleven none-of-your-business amount of years I have moved back. Three separate times.)
2.Skiing. (To my parents great delight, I opted to ski bum around the world for about three years after college. When I left my last ski town I swore that I would keep up with the sport. I have been skiing approximately five days in the past decade.)
3.Cooking time for pasta. (Totally wrong about this every. time. If you are one of those psychopathically organized people who sets a timer when you cook pasta, you should probably just stop reading right now)
Why are we so obsessed with endings, anyway?
Whenever I leave a city (see related post here), or stop in the middle of some crafty cooking project (see related post here) or give up a hobby for a while, I take great solace in the idea that I can always come back to it, even if I’m a different person when I do. You can never go down the same river twice and all that.
And a horizon line isn’t really the end either, when you think about it. But it does mean that what comes after is unknown. Maybe that’s what our brains like-the possibility of the unknown, lurking on the skyline. Either way, it makes for a fabulous view. Picture of the horizon at the Kalahari Desert to celebrate.
Banner Photo Credit: Photo by Cinthia Aguilar