Living In A Fishbowl

This post may not be what the title implies to you. It's not about living in a place where everyone sees your every move. But rather it is an entirely different thought.

My wife and I recently had the privilege of traveling to South Florida and to Mexico. While we were there, we decided to try our hand at snorkeling. I must say, it was an entirely exhilarating experience!

When I was a teenager I snorkeled some in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida's east coast. But that was when I was young, in a hurry, and wasn't into appreciating the natural beauty created by the Creator.

This time it was very different. While in Cozumel, Mexico, we donned our snorkeling gear and jumped in! We immediately realized that we were in way over our heads (literally, and in the sensory-overloaded world under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico).

The beauty of the tropical fish, coral, plant life and other types of "life" were almost overwhelming. Like two kids experiencing an amusement park with the lights, sounds and "dazzle", we constantly tapped each other and pointed at the different sights.

A few days later we spent two days around rock formations in the ocean off South Florida. Again, the experience was almost breathtaking (one must be careful when under the water breathing through a tube)! Here we found ourselves literally swimming with the fishes, as schools of fish surrounded us, almost oblivious to our presence. (I need to do some research to identify them.) We even swam with a school of jack, some of them almost two feet long, and ended our final day with an encounter with a small shark (is there any such thing as a small shark?).

It was fantastic, and we are hooked! But what about living in a fishbowl. The world we saw through our masks was a world that is not seen unless one takes the time to wear the proper equipment to make seeing that world possible. In other words, the fishbowl that we peered into (even swam in) required something to make it possible to experience it (in this case, snorkeling equipment).

Sometimes, to experience an unusual, extraordinary or remarkable thing, it requires either a different perspective, a different experience or an different view. Do what it takes to see life from a new perspective. Climb into the fishbowl and have a look. You may love it!