Many of you have asked us how our trip to Ireland was and let me tell you it was INCREDIBLE. I mean, honestly it was epic. We got to spend time with my bestie and her hubby in Wexford for five days and then Matt and I ventured into Dublin where we explored the city and took “Paddy Wagons” to different places in Ireland. (Paddy Wagon is a coach bus that drives you around to different sites)
My favorite day was the day we went to the Cliffs of Moher and it is what I am going to write about today.
Since the movie “Pride and Prejudice” (the one with Kiera Knightly) came out, I have wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher. Before you comment, yes I know the Cliffs are not shown in that movie. However, there is a scene where she is at a cliff looking over the ocean and there began my obsession with seeing the Cliffs of Moher.
The COM (Cliffs of Moher-its getting annoying to type out or I am spelling that out too much) day arrived and we were ready. We had snacks for the bus, rain jackets, layers, our camera and phone chargers. We were scheduled to take a Paddy Wagon to a few places, one of which was the COM. We got on the bus and off we went. We stopped at a castle, at a cute town for lunch, and then we finally made it to the COM.
The weather changes when you are near the ocean in Ireland- especially at the COM. When it had been mostly dry all day, we arrived and it was windy with misty rain. But we were ready- we had all our gear and we couldn’t wait to get off the bus and explore. The tour guide said we would have two hours and warned us to be careful- people have died from getting too close to the edge and he didn’t want us to be one of them.
At the COM there are two main walking paths-- one towards a beaten down castle and an easier walk or one towards more of the cliffs and a little more treacherous. We chose the treacherous one obviously. As we started our trek, the wind and rain picked up slightly but we were prepared for that so we kept going. The official path only goes so far and then it comes to the unbeaten path where you climb over a fence and walk on the muddy grass area. We climbed over and kept walking. All the while we would stop and take pictures and take it all in. I still remember just taking a moment and feeling so fricken blessed that I got to see this marvelous place.
After a few minutes of hiking, we got to a stopping point. There is this dip in the cliff and it had created this little pool from the rain and ocean water. Matt and I had to make a decision. Do we stop here and hike back, or do we keep going? My adrenaline was going and I was ready to keep going. However, the wind was something fierce and the rain was coming steady.
This is where we debated. We had to walk around the left side of the "pond" and up towards where those people are standing.
Now, I am going to take a quick break from this story to mention that I have been reading a lot of self development books and a theme from all of them is the idea of fear. This short little word has an incredible impact on our day to day lives. I have come to realize that much of my life revolves around this idea of fear.
Fear of failure
Fear of pain
Fear of judgement
Fear of death
Just to name of few. And I am tired of it. As I have stated in previous posts, my “mantra” for this year has been the word “faith” and personally I don’t think you can have faith and feel fear- the whole point of faith is to believe in the unseen or to believe in what you can’t control- at least that is how I think of it.
And so back to our journey- we stood there debating whether we should go. Most people were turning around and a few were journeying down into the dip and braving the wind. I remember looking at Matt and saying, “Let’s do it.” We didn’t come all the way here to stop at this point. And so we carefully walked down the slippery rocks to the lowest point in the dip and fought the wind to stay upright while slowly walking around the little pond.
Finally, we got to a part where we could climb back up and let me tell you...it was worth it. It was so fricken pretty. Matt and I stood there and just looked around..the ocean crashing against the rock, the rain soaking us and the wind howling all around. It was perfect. Luckily, one other brave soul had decided it was worth it too, and he was able to get some pictures of us.
After we made the scary hike back to the bus, my mind started this whole spin about fear and how much we let it rule our lives. What do you fear? How do you let fear take over your life? My bet is if you answered these questions honestly, you would find that parts of your life are ruled by fear… and how do you change that? That part I am working on-but for me it is having faith. Having so much faith that even when these huge things I fear are standing in front of me, I just say a prayer and have faith.
So much joy and so much God made beauty. So grateful for this trip of a lifetime with my favorite person.