My phone is crashing, slowly. Whatever wants to load, loads whatever doesn’t, doesn’t.

And when I got home yesterday, way earlier than expected after moving what literally felt like the entire store, I needed to write.
But for whatever reason, the phone would not allow it, and instead I started going through a photo album I hadn’t even even realized was there.

It was surreal looking back at projects I’d forgotten, art I’d created, magic I had made. And it takes A LOT for me to call my own work magic, yet it was. Not so much the work itself – some of it WAS really good, some of it was ok – but ALL of it had felt like magic at the time for what it represented in the moment.

As I scrolled through the image of the serene woman surrounded by water appeared (The word ‘mermaid’ in Spanish being ‘sirena’ speaks to me now …) and held my attention for a bit. I don’t remember where I found her, but clearly she felt important enough for me to take her picture from a magazine. The fact that she is so peacefully just barely keeping her head above water spoke to me. Silently, yet forcefully. The fact that I save pictures of women for my art and that she had clearly been forgotten spoke even louder.

I slept – strangely. Woke up at my new normal, 2:27. Got up at 3:33 (didn’t plan that, but it made me smile) showered, got dressed, ate, went through my email and just couldn’t do any more. I allowed myself to go back to bed. And when I woke up, I opened my phone to three oddly relevant pins.

Now, I don’t mean to make any that be any more than it is. But this morning, it was exactly what I needed to put some thoughts into words and some perspectives into place.

Magic isn’t about perfection. Happy isn’t about perfection. And sometimes getting where you need or want to be puts you in precarious places – the water right up to the edges of your face. But allowing yourself to be submerged is important – As long as you come up for air. As long as you return – or better yet, never leave – what speaks to your very core. As long as you don’t lose sight of YOUR mission.

I do my best these days to not force things – and that is not only a scary thing, but it does not come naturally. Although I am a believer in what flows flows, what crashes crashes being an important mantra, I also recognize that waves crash, and return to shore repeatedly, and the ocean is arguably one of the most powerful elements on this earth. Yet by the same token, it does so by the pull of the Universe.

So don’t force it Mermaid. Take your time, go with the flow, trust your gut and follow your signs. Because the most naive thing that any of us can think is that we are the ones with the plan.

Namaste Mermaid … See you when you get here ❤

This post first appeared on The Painted Mermaid‘s Facebook page and is posted here by permission. Amy is the author of 10 Little Rules for Mermaids.