Stretch Your Eyes

I've been surfing more lately.

My year started off with the birth of our second child, followed by a long-overdue surfer's ear surgery.

Neither of those things equates to a ton of time in the water.

However, I'm back in the water—regularly—these last several weeks.

One thing I noticed is that I found myself staring (and marveling) at Catalina Island. I've always loved Catalina because it feels so far from home when you're there, but you can see it just sitting there... not far away at all.

Then it occurred to me how nice it is to look at something 32 miles away.

How often in the course of daily life do I look at something 32 miles away? Or even 1 mile away?

My screen time hovers somewhere around 3.5 hours on my phone, plus another several hours on this laptop—upon which I currently type. 

My cell phone is what...? 17 inches from my eyes. My laptop 2 full feet...? Yikes.

I started to think about the rest of my day... stop lights, people's faces, things around my house or the shop... never more than a few feet (or yards) away. 

By comparison, 32 miles really ups the average.  

So, go surfing often. Slow down. And stretch your eyes out to the horizon.

Embrace the gift of looking beyond arm's length away.

My gut says it's good for all of us to do it regularly.