In my later years in life, when I was spending lots of money, tears and fears in therapy, I began to learn how to deal with my feelings.   As I got the hang of it, I began to correlate the process with this childhood story.

When I was about 8 years of age, my family went on a vacation to the Gulf of Mexico.  Being from the Midwestern United States, I had never seen an ocean before and I was so excited.  I loved to swim, but until this trip - I had only swam in swimming pools, lakes, and ponds.  Swimming pools, lakes and ponds don't have waves.  It's pretty easy to swim in them.

I was only 8, nothing made me think swimming in the ocean would be any different than my previous swimming experiences.  So, there we were on the beach with that huge expansive ocean looming before us.  Now I could see the waves, but I still wasn't associating it with what was about to come.

Out I walked into the sea, for as far as I could go (with the water up to my shoulders).  Then all of the sudden, I saw it coming at me - a humongous wave.  Fear set in.  I hollered for help from Mom and Dad.  They were off playing with an ocean crab.  They smiled my way, and said "You'll be ok".  

Gosh, I remember thinking - Mom and Dad don't even care about me.  I'm going to drown.  I'm going to die.  

That all occurred in just a few seconds and then that huge wave was upon me, it knocked me off my feet, and I struggled to get my footing and stand back up.  

Wow - I was able to stand up and guess what??  The wave was gone!  Ya know - that was kind of fun, and I stayed in the ocean waiting for the next wave, and the next one, and the next one.  

As I began this story - it was later in life, in therapy, that I began to see emotions in comparison to ocean waves.  Waves of emotion come at me every day.  They use to terrify me, as they would cause me to feel so much fear, anxiety, and depression.  As I learned to deal with them, to embrace them, and allow them to be felt, I began to learn that they (like the ocean waves) would wash over me, knock me down, and go away.    It was during this time in my life that I stopped being so afraid of feelings and emotions.  I started seeing them for what they are, knowing they "come and they go".