Swimming, snorkelling, searching for turtles and spending my birthday surrounded by the Ionian Sea reminded me that sometimes reconnecting with ourselves starts with disconnecting from everything else.
There is something about being near water that makes life feel quieter.
Not necessarily literally quieter. Holidays with two teenage boys are rarely that. But there is a different kind of quiet that happens when your phone is put away, your shoes are kicked off and the biggest decision you have to make is whether to swim, snorkel or simply sit and stare at the sea.
This September, I travelled to Zakynthos with my two sons, Jed and Obi, for a week that happened to include my birthday.
I’d been looking forward to the sunshine, obviously. I was looking forward to exploring somewhere new, eating good food and escaping everyday life for a while.
What I hadn’t anticipated was just how much I needed the water.
Looking beneath the surface
One of the things I love about travel is how quickly it can make you curious again.
At home, our days can become incredibly repetitive. We drive the same roads, answer the same emails, look at the same screens and rush between the same commitments.
Put me somewhere with crystal-clear water and a snorkel, however, and suddenly I’m fascinated by absolutely everything.
Snorkelling forces you to pay attention. You can’t scroll while you’re doing it. You can’t answer an email. You can’t simultaneously be thinking about the 15 other things you should probably be doing.
You breathe.
You float.
You look.
And there is an entire world happening underneath you that you would otherwise have walked straight past.
Searching for turtles
Zakynthos is famous for its loggerhead sea turtles, and seeing them was one of the experiences I had been most excited about.
We explored the waters around the island, including the area near Cameo Island, and went turtle spotting.
There is something incredibly humbling about looking out across a huge expanse of sea knowing that somewhere beneath you these animals are simply getting on with their lives.
And then you spot one.
For a few moments, nothing else really matters.
It was another reminder of how different we behave when we’re immersed in nature. We notice things. We wait. We become excited by something appearing for just a few seconds.
We become present.
Taking to the water ourselves
One of my favourite experiences of the entire trip was hiring a self-drive boat.
There’s something wonderfully freeing about heading out onto the water under your own steam.
No packed itinerary. No rushing from one attraction to another. Just us, the coastline and the freedom to explore.
We could stop when somewhere looked beautiful, get into the water, swim, look around and move on when we were ready.
As someone whose everyday life involves schedules, deadlines, children, clients, projects and an almost permanently busy brain, that freedom felt enormous.
It reminded me that adventure doesn’t always need to involve doing something extreme.
Sometimes adventure is simply having nowhere else you need to be.
Another trip around the sun
And then there was my birthday.
I’ve always believed birthdays should be marked by experiences rather than simply getting another year older.
This one involved sunshine, sea, my boys and another little collection of memories to take home with me.
There is something about birthdays that naturally makes us reflect.
Where was I this time last year?
What has changed?
What do I want the next year to look like?
Being away from home gave me the space to think about those questions without needing to immediately find the answers.
Perhaps that’s another thing travel gives us.
Distance.
Not just geographical distance, but distance from our routines and from the version of ourselves that exists within them.
Nature doesn’t need anything from us
So much of modern life is transactional.
Emails need replies.
Social media wants content.
Businesses need decisions.
Homes need cleaning.
People need things.
Nature doesn’t.
The sea doesn’t care how productive you’ve been that week.
A turtle isn’t interested in your follower count.
The sunset doesn’t need you to photograph it for it to have happened.
And floating in the Ionian Sea, surrounded by an enormous amount of blue, makes many of the things that felt incredibly urgent a few days earlier suddenly seem considerably smaller.
That’s probably why so many of us instinctively head towards nature when life becomes overwhelming. It gives our minds somewhere else to go.
Bringing some of Greece home
Of course, eventually you come back. The suitcase gets unpacked. The washing machine goes on. Emails start arriving again and normal life resumes remarkably quickly.
But I don’t think the point of getting away is to permanently escape your life. Perhaps it’s to come back to it slightly differently. I came home wanting more moments when I’m completely absorbed in what I’m doing.
More swimming.
More walking.
More looking.
More trying new things simply because they interest me.
More time outside.
And considerably more moments when my phone isn’t the most interesting thing in front of me.
I can’t recreate the Ionian Sea in Leicestershire.
But I can recreate the feeling of choosing to stop.
Sometimes reconnecting with yourself doesn’t require a retreat, a complicated wellness routine or completely changing your life.
Sometimes you just need to put your phone away, get outside and remember to look at what’s around you.
And if there happens to be a turtle swimming past at the time?
Even better.
