Adventuresome and Amazing

Posted by Rachel Elliott on Jul 4, 2011 | 0 comments

About five years ago one of my favorite shirts had written on it “the world is pretty amazing.”  It took an incredible adventure in Ayia Napa to make me realize that I had forgotten that fact.

Last Saturday I was presented with an opportunity to go explore the Sea Caves.  The sad thing is, I actually  had to sit there and think if I really wanted to go or not.   I had woken up expecting the picture perfect summer day, which consisted of tanning and reading a sappy Nicholas Sparks book.  It’s funny how things change in such a short matter of time.

As if I haven’t learned by now, Cyprus is an extraordinary place, and the Sea Caves just exemplifies my point.   I had never seen water and waves so beautiful. I was running around taking all kinds of crazy pictures, including the dirt on the ground, so I could remember every detail.

My favorite part of the day was when Aaron got bored of taking pictures, and decided to go cliff jumping.  Somewhere along the way,  I was convinced to jump off the cliff too.   It reminded me of a saying that my mom would use to teach me how to think for myself,  “if so-and-so jumped off the cliff would you follow?”   Well, put into the correct context, the answer would be yes, and so would Chelsey and Emma.

After we acquired our adrenaline rushes, Dr. Legg took us on the tour of the Sea Caves.   (Note: future advice to any interested party, if Dr. Legg offers any surprise Sea Caves excursions, the answer is always yes).   We stopped at many points, and the sights seemed to get more gorgeous as we went around.  There was crystal clear water, and not a cloud in sky.   I began to loose track of where the water met the sky.   The beauty is indescribable, and even the best of camera still can’t capture it quite right.

Chelsey laughed at me just a few days earlier, for too frequently using the phrase “life changing.”  Truth be told, this day was life changing, and a much needed wake-up-call.  My mom often calls me “frilly”, and I couldn’t wait to surprise her with a text that read, “I just jumped off a 35-foot cliff!”  I had never been so excited to see my friends jump off the cliff too.  I was pushing people out of the way for picture purposes.  I saw Mediterranean blues so beautiful, that I began to question why pink was my favorite color in the first place.

I had to make the deliberate decision and do something out-of-the-ordinary, in order to learn more about the world.  Trading “frilly” for “adventuresome,” wasn’t as hard as it seems either.  I actually enjoyed being “adventuresome” for the day.  It took leaving my comfort zone behind to discover that the world is pretty amazing, and I will always remember that.