The Salty Sea Turtle

Water vibes 🌊 sun shine 🌅 iced coffee 🧜🏻‍♀️

[thesaltyseaturtle]

Do you ever just feel like the world is too vast? The leaves change, fall, regrow, and we are all just… here, existing.

People frequently ask, "what is your biggest fear?" Rightfully, it's a good conversation starter and gauge of a person's mindset. Bridges, I would tell you. The media, if I was wanting to bait you into something. But you know that David Goggins quotes that's something along the lines of "what if, when you die you talk to God and God slides you a piece of paper and says "this is who you were supposed to be. This is what you could have done. What happened?!"

That… that is my biggest fear. Not so much that I will have "disappointed God" but more so that I will have wasted my potential. I have the potential to be so much more than I am now and I'm just failing to capitalize on it.  

I look back on my softball career and I can't help but be disappointed in myself. I failed myself. I could have worked harder, I should have worked harder. I wanted to be the best and yet, I failed to put in the work it takes to the best. 

Truthfully, I could say the same about my undergraduate studies. I could have done better. But again, I failed to apply myself. I failed to maintain discipline. 

I have a fear of wasted potential and a diversion to doing the work it requires to maximize that potential. Quite the conundrum, isn’t it?

All of this to say: I just started a new chapter and I am scared to death I am going to fail. And maybe I do, but twelve months from now I don’t want to look back and say - “I could have done more.” I don’t want to be “just existing” a year from now, I want to be living, thriving. So here's to getting my priorities in line and posting it on the internet to hold myself accountable. 

[thesaltyseaturtle]

I only get my coffee with vanilla flavoring because one of my teammates told me it was the best.

I typically never change my order at places because my mom’s friend once told me consistent people are easier to surprise and I love surprises. 

I always connect my ‘o’s to my ‘u’s because that is the way my best friend writes the ‘you’ in “I love you”

I keep my nails painted because my roommate in college did and I haven’t stopped since. 

Sometimes when the sky is really pretty, I won’t take a picture because I read an article that said taking the time to take the picture is wasting the moments you could be living in it.

When I go out I always make my eyeshadow two shades darker than what I think it should be because my friend told me mine is always too light. 

And I will wear a watch everyday until I retire because that’s what my dad did and I thought that was such a power move

Every single person out there is a mosaic of everyone they have ever met, this is mine. What is yours?

[thesaltyseaturtle]

The following is a list of things that I have found to be undeniably true in life.

Everyone you have a relationship with (platonic or otherwise) comes into your life for a reason. Whether they stay for a lifetime or a season, they have taught you something. If when they leave you cannot explain the lesson learned, you have not healed.

The trick to turning instant oatmeal from good to great is French vanilla coffee creamer.

Miracles do happen

Mental health is as serious as physical health.

Most self-care/diet companies are just looking to make a profit from exploiting your insecurities.

Most late night worries can be solved with a midnight drive with no destination in mind.

God hears your prayers a little louder when you wish them upon a shooting star

If it is meant to be, it will be.

Time will pass regardless

If you need the world to slow down, stop and sit down while drinking your coffee

Sunshine is important

So is water, and I don’t necessarily mean drinking it (though that is important too).

When life is getting to be too much, go outside and just exist.

Very few things work better than consistency and dedication.

You can feel lonely in a room full of people, just as you can feel complete while alone.

-Stay Salty My Friends.

[thesaltyseaturtle]

I hope you fall in love. I hope one day you wake up and life is bright and vividly colored. I hope that life never leads you down a dark path and if it should, that path leads to something magnificent. I hope that the moon is always pretty and weather is always perfect. I hope you are never too far away from the water. I hope that one day you have a stack of polaroids from everything you completed on your bucket list.

-Stay Salty My Friends

[kalevit-deactivated20230107-dea]

[labella-instagram]

[thesaltyseaturtle]

It's 2:05 in the morning

I drive by a garage that has been converted into a shop. The bay door is up and every light is on. I can see one middle aged man working by his lonesome.

In my mind he has a wife and two kids at home. He turns wrenches to turn an income and provide a living for his family. 

He'll be out there until the job is done, even if that means working well into day break. 

He's probably used to cold dinners and eating hours after everyone else has gone to sleep.

I imagine there is Jethro Tull playing on the stereo system and every now and then he'll use a wrench as a drumstick.

Tomorrow he'll wake up and put on a uniform for a job that provides insurance for his family and a steady paycheck, but like most in the middle class that paycheck is never enough.

His kids will know the value of the dollar but he will do whatever it takes to make sure they never want for anything. He makes his family his priority. Which is probably why he is constantly working until the wee hours of the morning. I imagine he spent the day watching his kid play ball or taking his family for a hike.

Life is different at 2 AM, but for those dedicated to raising and providing the best for their family, its just another hour to work. 

[utwo]

Toyota FJ40 land Cruiser

© robinadamsphoto

[utwo]

Toyota  Landcruiser

© Kaycee Landsaw

[butteryplanet]

[thesaltyseaturtle]

Well, it's been more than ONE-HUNDRED DAYS since we have been told to isolate and social distance. Though, for a brief moment I thought all was going back right in the world, but then Big Brother was like "Psych, bitches!" Now, there is no telling when or even if things will return to the old status quo.

However, in all of this mess I hope we have all learned two things…

One, mass media is the devil. They will make you believe whatever agenda they want to push and for a while, the media made it sound like Covid-19 was the most deadly virus the world has ever seen. Which brings me to item number two.

I hope you learned what is truly important to you. As you were locked in your house, either by yourself or with those you love (or hate), and death just a grocery trip away: what did you spend your time doing?

Did you spend it trying to get in the best shape of your life so you could at least die fit? (Pro tip: No one is going to say, "too bad she never got into that size eight dress" as they lower your soon-to-be decaying corpse six feet into the earth's surface.) Did you make hate tapes to send to those you despise most so they would really know how you felt about them before you took your last agonizing breath?

OR - did you spend it missing your loved ones, missing the freedom we once had, and wishing you could leave your house to go on an adventure or even just a date? Maybe you spent your time wishing you had seized the day a little more. Maybe it dawned on you that you were not living up to YOUR maximum potential and you don’t want to die being the loser you have been. 

I hope we have all realized life is short and our time spent on this planet matters. Family matters. Love matters. Friends matter. Dreams of living this life to the fullest, matter. Most importantly, the freedom to choose the life we want to live matters. Memories last forever, make them.  Live this life for you.

Shit, maybe tomorrow the world stops turning and we all die, would you be satisfied? If you answered "no" to that question, boy do I have some good news for you! Realistically, the likelihood of the world stopping tomorrow is rather slim and tomorrow is a new day for a better life. So turn your collections of pinterest boards into reality and LIVE YOUR BEST DAMN LIFE!

[fieldstoforestsog-deactivated20]

𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚝

𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚊𝚕

[graphicdesignblg]

[te5seract]

it never gets old & blooming rowena, part four by Danielle Nelson

[thesaltyseaturtle]

If you asked me where the most beautiful place on earth is, I just might tell you where the sunflowers meet the sea.

[hipindie]

fireplace

[thesaltyseaturtle]

Hey you,

It's me (the same you that is reading this, just three years younger)!

I am the you that would go to the bars and hang out by ourself and make friends as the night went on, the same you that danced carelessly to an old Terri Clark song in said bar while somehow remembering every word though we hadn't heard it in what seemed like a decade. Do you remember me?

This photo was taken on our last solo roadtrip. We drove out to West Texas and did nothing but think and sing the entire way. The following spring we spent our free time hiking the trails of state parks and watching the sun (and the moon). We hiked well over 50 miles that season and we loved every step of it.

Life was hard, but damned if our soul wasn't on fire. I bet if you search deep in our soul, you can still feel my presence.

Three years ago we were lost and trying to sort out life, but at some point we let life get the best of us. We stopped pushing back. We stopped being present. We stopped holding ourselves accountable.

That has to change. We can't live a life worth reading about if don't even live a life worth writing about. This life is our paper, our choices are the words that will forever leave their mark. What does our story say thus far? How is our ending going to look? Only you can make the change. I can resurface and I hope one day I do; stronger, smarter, more wise.