As any Canadian knows, winters in the north are cold, dark and long. Mentally, I struggle with the darkness. It’s hard to get motivated and I find myself withdraw from my creativity and my artistic side; defaulting to auto pilot. The one thing that keeps me going is knowing that it’s only a matter of time until I’ll be heading south where I’ll feel the sun on my face again.

On the second day of my arrival, I woke up before the sunrise and drove to the beach. As soon as I saw the sunrise and heard the sound of the ocean, I took a deep breath and realized I felt whole again.