Today calls for a visit to Sturgeon Bay lighthouse and the guys’ hunting grounds. There are days when the world feels heavy, like a fog rolling in off Lake Michigan, wrapping us in layers of unspoken sorrow. Today, I invite you to join me in a story of quiet resilience—one inspired by a kindred spirit who shared their tale of loss and renewal.
We’ll wander to the Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse and the guys’ rugged hunting grounds that hold echoes of simpler times. It’s a reminder that even in grief, nature’s whispers can guide us back to the light. As someone who’s found comfort in these very shores during my moments of heartache, I know the path isn’t always easy, but it’s worth every step.
A Heartfelt Retreat: Visiting Sturgeon Bay in Times of Sorrow
It all began with a call to the waters. After the passing of my best friend’s mother and a high school friend, a simple spark of a social media post—unravels a dam of buried thoughts.
We all build those dams sometimes, holding back the currents of emotion to keep moving forward. But oh, how the heart yearns for release. That’s what drew me, to Door County—a place where the land and lake converge in a symphony of healing.
The Guys’ Hunting Grounds
On the guys’ hunting grounds, surrounded by antiques that whisper of carefree summers with my great-grandparents, I find sanctuary. It’s a place where the rustle of leaves and the call of birds can drown out the noise of grief, allowing me to capture the world through my lens. Photography and nature have been my faithful companions; they don’t judge—they simply hold space for my heart.
Life Isn’t Always Rainbows and Unicorns
Now, onto the strange way I get lost in thought. I don’t always get this deep when I write, but sometimes I share. It is important to know that everyone’s life isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. Some people share, and some people hide. I’m the hider, I hide emotions from the outside world, like I shouldn’t be able to own or even have the feelings I have. It was a learned trait and an extremely unhealthy trait to have.
A Visit To The Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse
Just a short, 2-mile jaunt from the guys’ hunting grounds leads to the lake’s edge, where the Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse stands as a beacon of hope. In my wanderings, I’ve visited this lighthouse many times, perched proudly along the shores, its light cutting through the haze like a promise of dawn. It’s more than a landmark; it’s a symbol of navigation through life’s storms.
The Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse and Coastguard station are a sign of strength for me. As a Sophomore and Junior in high school, I always visited, I drew strength in the lake waves, the beacon lights from the lighthouse, and the strong pier walls. It was something constant that I could return to. It was a place to walk along the beach and pier to think.
A Lighthouse is Symbolic
Over the years, lighthouses have guided ships to safety in total darkness. The lighthouse also seems to do that for me; it provides light in the darkness, which is why I have a strong connection to them.
Of course, good things happen every day. People just tend to find it hard to move past the bad. My goal was always to try not to look back EVER. Trying to avoid any pain and move on. I skipped a few steps back then. Like going through emotions I should have. I should have, but didn’t. I didn’t have the skills, and also chose to avoid and pretend things didn’t happen. I find myself revisiting the issues often that I took this stance with.
Photography is Therapy
Bad shit is gonna happen. You can’t escape it, you can’t plan for it – it just happens. When you are going through a difficult time, you are supposed to face it, not run from it. Face the emotions, feel them, and then find a healthy way to move forward in your thought process.
I never learned a healthy way to work through strong emotions. So, I threw them away, or so I thought.
It is a skill and a process that I completed to move forward through life. After moving on, I tried hard not to dwell on if it was the correct way of dealing with a situation. I just moved forward. That is it, nothing more. Nothing less.
I believed it worked rather well, at the time.
One Day at a Time
1.) Yesterday is gone. I can’t change what happened in the past – should of and could of, it doesn’t much matter..it is just THAT, yesterday. It happened.
2.) Today is today, and I have control over the day. Make a plan, and tackle it today.
3.) Tomorrow is tomorrow. I have no control over tomorrow because it has not been given to me yet. I can plan and have a rough outline, but until the sunrises, it is only a dream.
Using this concept, I can; and HAVE gotten through some serious, bad shit during my lifetime.
Focus
My focus now is on what can I do today that might help me and my loved ones in the future. Becoming healthier in my thought process. Not avoiding, but dealing with things as they happen more healthily.
I Just Want To Be at Peace
I just want to be at peace. I chose peace. It is an active choice, out of love and respect for myself.
Slowly, the tigers from my past are coming out into the open and taking turns being dealt with. They can live in their part of this world. One that doesn’t interact with mine. This world is large enough that we can all live in this world together, but apart.
Every step made toward this goal reminds me how strong of a person you can become. With a little time and effort, life can turn around. Some happiness can return. You take back control and steer the ship through the waves, exactly where you need to go. Even if you have to do it under light fog and guided by a lighthouse under the silver moonlight beams.
2016 might finally be the year when I can find inner peace.
Update
Update 2025: Since this was written, I wanted to share that talk therapy is extremely helpful. It was an awkward and rather uncomfortable process at first. It took plenty of time, patience, and blind faith before I learned to trust an “outsider” with my inner thoughts and life experiences.
I just had to be given the proper tools, to express what I needed in a safe environment and with a little help, healthily reprocess memories and experiences. If you can relate to any part of my story, or suffer from depression, I urge you to try talk therapy. It is uncomfortable at first, but I wish I had started 20 years ago.
