On Becoming a Sea Turtle

I want to talk about sea turtles.?

But buckle up, y'all, because this is a metaphor.?

Green sea turtles can weigh over 400 pounds, live nearly a century, and blast through the ocean at 40 miles per hour! They even have an internal magnetic compass to navigate their way home across vast oceans. The only natural thing they have to worry about are tiger sharks—if a shark is ever lucky enough to catch them.???

Green sea turtles are awesome!

I learned all this from Sherry, a wildlife photographer and member of the “Turtle Team” in Maui. Emily and I met Sherry a couple of days ago on a beach at dusk as we the Turtle Team dig trapped baby sea turtles out of their nest.?

The sun sank down over the horizon and we watched three tiny, baby turtles—each smaller than my hand—crawl across the beach.?

They struggled over pebbles.?

One got flipped onto its back by a wave.?

We all gasped.?

It flipped back over and kept crawling.?

The three babies flapped their flippers past the dozens of massive adult turtles asleep on the beach. When they finally made it to the water and swam away, we cheered.?

They were so tiny. So helpless.?

Were it not for Sherry, I wouldn’t have believed those tiny babies would ever grow into the giant turtles laying in the sand.?

What could cause such a drastic transformation??

How could something so tiny and helpless ever become something so graceful and majestic??

I listened to the waves crash onto the beach.?

“They’ll be out there for over twenty years before they come back,” Sherry said.?

I looked out at the Pacific Ocean and tried to imagine the challenges facing those little turtles: Sharks, barracudas, giant squids, whales, riptides, hurricanes, a nearly infinite expanse of open water.??

Most won’t make it back.?

But those that do will be different.?

So what changes the turtles??

The wild, dangerous, and wonderful ocean.?

I told you this was a metaphor.?

Last week I submitted a book proposal to a bunch of literary agents. After writing for over a year and having this book live inside me for longer than I know, this was the next step toward becoming an author.?

And man, it is daunting.?

I’ve already gotten a “no.”?

A couple agents asked for more information.?

Most of them said they might respond in eight weeks if they are interested.

When I look at my favorite authors—my heroes, whose words have impacted my life—I can’t imagine ever being like them.?

I can’t fathom writing with such grace and majesty.?

I can’t envision touching lives like they do.?

I have a hard time even seeing past the first set of waves and getting a response from an agent or publisher.?

But I am going to keep flapping my flippers (see, it’s a metaphor, I’m the baby turtle) because I know that the challenges, the pressing, the crashing of the waves is where growth happens.?

And at the end of the day, it’s not about being published.?

It’s about becoming the kind of person who helps others through the waves.?

So I am going to embrace the journey and I am going to swim as hard as my little flippers can flap.