Chicken soup for the unemployed's soul

I confess to being a complete and utter soup fiend.  I would happily live on it every day if I could.  As we speak I have a massive pot of chicken noodle soup bubbling away!  Perfect for today's chilly weather and, as the inspiring books of the same name imply, I firmly believe that chicken soup is indeed food for the soul.  However, once in a blue moon a situation arises that even a steaming bowl of comforting soup won't fix and when that happens, this is where I go.

This is Whangamata beach, where I am lucky enough to live.  The island on the left hand side is technically called Clark Island but I've been calling it 'my island' as long as I can remember, much to the annoyance of my children.  At low tide you can walk across there and you can even climb to the top of it, although this I have yet to do as I'm far more comfortable sunbathing at the bottom of it.  This beach resembles chicken soup on a big scale for me.  I've walked along it, ran across it, played cricket on it, lazed on it for hours and cried many a tear on it when nobody's looking.

I don't know what on earth my problem was at the weekend, maybe I just got out of bed the wrong side, who knows?  But whatever the reason I was stuck in a big, blue funk and nothing seemed able to get me out of it.  No amount of reassurance from my loved ones would convince me I wasn't useless, jobless, friendless, penniless - I know, I know, break out the violins!  As my horrible day drew to a close and the light started to fade I had two choices - one, retire to my bed, pull my duvet over my head and hope everything was better in the morning - or two, drag my butt down to the beach for some fresh air.  Hopeful looks from a rather overweight spaniel forced me to choose the latter and I'm very glad I did as this was the scene that greeted us as we appeared over the top of the sand dunes.  The sea was like glass, a boat cruised silently past and a lone paddle boarder, er, paddled.  All at once my dark thoughts and endless woes disappeared as I realised I was in quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world at that moment and I had everything to be grateful for.  I challenge anyone to go to the beach and not feel instantly better!

TODAY I LEARNED: That everyone has their own, personal 'chicken soup'. You just have to find it!