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The Best Beach Days Aren’t Always the Perfect Ones

The best beach days aren't always picture-perfect. A casual look at why the unexpected moments, simple traditions and slower pace make coastal living so memorable.

8/4/20263 min read

There’s a version of a beach day that exists mostly on social media. Perfect blue sky. Empty stretch of sand. Matching chairs. Cold drinks that somehow never get warm. Nobody has sand stuck to anything it shouldn’t be stuck to.

Then there’s an actual beach day: the wind is stronger than expected, someone forgot the sunscreen, your towel has collected approximately half the beach, the cooler weighs 400 pounds on the walk from the car, and five minutes after you finally get comfortable, somebody needs something.

Somehow, those are usually the days we remember.

We Put Too Much Pressure on the Perfect Beach Day

Living the coastal lifestyle, or simply loving it, doesn’t require every trip to the water to look like a travel advertisement. Sometimes the ocean is rough. Sometimes the sky is gray. Sometimes you drive all the way to the beach, realize the wind is absolutely ridiculous, and decide lunch somewhere near the water sounds considerably better. That still counts. Because the best part of being near the coast isn’t necessarily what you do there. It’s what happens to you when you get there.

The pace changes. You stop checking the clock quite as much. Shoes become optional. Dinner can be something eaten outside. Suddenly sitting around doing absolutely nothing feels like a completely reasonable way to spend an afternoon.

Coastal Living Is More of a Mindset Anyway

You don’t have to live three blocks from the ocean to understand the feeling. Plenty of people spend most of the year nowhere near a beach but immediately feel different when they finally get back to one. That’s because the coastal lifestyle isn’t really about an address. It’s about choosing a little more outside over inside, casual over complicated, and experience over a schedule.

Maybe your version is fishing early in the morning. Maybe it’s walking through a beach town with absolutely nowhere you need to be. Maybe it’s boating, kayaking, paddle boarding, golfing near the coast or spending an afternoon sitting on a dock. Or maybe your greatest coastal achievement is finding a chair, putting your feet up and refusing to move for three hours.

No judgment here.

The Imperfect Parts Become the Stories

Think about your favorite trips. You probably remember some beautiful sunsets and great meals. But you also remember the ridiculous stuff: the umbrella that turned inside out, the seagull that made an aggressive business decision involving your lunch, the afternoon storm that sent everyone running, the wrong turn that accidentally led you somewhere better.

Those moments rarely feel particularly magical while they're happening. Later though? They're the stories everyone tells and maybe that's part of what keeps us coming back to the coast. Things feel a little less controlled there. Nature isn't particularly interested in your itinerary. The tide changes. The weather changes. Plans change.

Eventually, you stop fighting it.

Bring a Little of That Feeling Home

Of course, most of us can't spend every day sitting beside the ocean. Unfortunately, jobs and responsibilities continue to be surprisingly persistent, but you can bring pieces of that coastal mindset into everyday life.

Wear the shirt that reminds you of your favorite place. Put the coastal print on the wall. Eat dinner outside. Take the longer route because it runs beside the water. Plan the weekend trip you've been talking about for six months, and when you finally make it back to the coast, don't worry so much about creating the perfect day.

JUST GO!

Pack the cooler. Grab your favorite coastal tee. Accept that sand will eventually appear somewhere inside your vehicle despite every effort to prevent it. Just enjoy whatever kind of day the coast decides to give you.

The perfect beach day might be a little overrated. The memorable ones are so much better.