Gift from the Sea

Writing is part of living for me, and I see that same spirit in Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s prose, which was created during her solitary time in a beach cottage on Captiva Island on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The first week is solitude and collapse, emptying out of the stress and thoughts of the city. Then, in the second week, she slowly returns to life and lies in wait. One must not rush or dig for inspiration. The sea, she says, will bring it.

This book is a simple meditation on being in touch with a place and its gifts. She writes… show more.

This memoir was written in 1955 but its wisdom is evergreen because, nearly seventy years later, it’s still very difficult to be a woman.

We are many things to many people and it’s easy to lose ourselves in that swirl of activity and to-dos, which is precisely what happened to me. Depression and anxiety had reading off limits to me for a time, and this was the kind, gentle book that brought me back to the page, the one that said, Yes, yes.

That’s how it is, to love. It’s hard, not because you’re doing it wrong, but because you’re… show more.

Although times have certainly changed since Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote Gift from the Sea in 1955, the struggle to define ourselves and our relationships has not. Secluding herself on an almost deserted island, Lindbergh uses a variety of distinctive beach shells as writing prompts to philosophically examine the way we live and relate to each other.

The simplicity of being isolated in a rustic cottage beside a beautiful beach with only seagulls as companions allows Lindbergh the freedom to explore and question the choices we make. In today’s noisy, frenetic world, who among us wouldn’t like to escape to an… show more.

Anne Morrow Lindberg lived through the kidnapping and death of her child, the steady scrutiny of the press, and a husband who sympathized with the Nazis. She had to craft her own life amid turmoil and heartbreak.  But I didn’t know her full story when I first read this book in college. I was drawn to it for the power of wisdom she found while walking a Florida beach.

I’ve lived most of my life near the ocean and her powerful, timeless truths drawn from simple shells and sea life captured both my heart and imagination. Over the course of… show more.