What I Learned from a Badly Stubbed Toe in Paradise
The only wrinkle in an otherwise perfect trip to the Philippines (and it came with a secret message).
Three weeks ago, after a bumpy van ride through the mind-blowingly lush countryside of El Nido, Philippines, my girlfriend and I rolled up to our resort at Nacpan Beach (which is ranked as one of the most jaw-dropping beaches in Asia).
It was after sunset when we arrived, but we could still just make out the horizon. As soon as we walked up to the shoreline at this beach, I suddenly felt like it was sending me a message:
“Riley, everything is okay. Everything is going to be okay. You have nothing to worry about.”
Don’t ask me how, but I felt this message in my bones. I couldn’t help but feel it was true. I stood there taking in the twilight view for a few minutes before telling my girlfriend about the message on our way to dinner.
(Apparently, though, I didn’t quite let it sink in enough, as you’ll see in a minute.)
Now fast forward two days later. It was the morning of our last day at Nacpan, a few hours before checkout time. We’d just rented a stand-up paddleboard so we could soak in the beauty of this place even more.
(Here’s a pic to give you an idea of how the water looked that day—that’s my girlfriend on the board haha.)
As you can see, it was spec-tac-u-lar. Or totally spec-tac, as I like to say.
In fact, it was so spec-tac that as we traded places on the paddleboard for an hour, I felt an urge to set some big intentions for my life and say a little prayer for guidance from the Universe while we were there. It was an awesome moment.
Then came time to pull the paddleboard out of the water to return it to the rental shop.
One thing I haven’t told you yet about Nacpan Beach is that the waves were pretty strong right at the shore.
The sand dipped down quite steeply right where the water met the sand, so the waves smacked into it with more force than other beaches we’d been to.
Unfortunately, too late, as I was trying to lug our board out just at that point, I realized all of a sudden that I was on the wrong side of this thing.
I’d tipped the board onto its narrow side and had it parallel to the shoreline, so the flat bottom was facing directly into the waves. And before I could fix my mistake, a nice big wave came along and smashed the board right into the big toe of my right foot.
“F#@K!” I said, not so under my breath, and with different spelling.
(I’m not gonna lie, this hurt like a b*tch as soon as it happened. Here’s a pic of my toe from the day after the incident, to give you an idea.)
To put this in perspective, it’s not like I was dying. However, this also wasn’t exactly what I’d been (literally) praying for at the beach a few minutes earlier.
So at first I was taken aback that fate had chosen to deliver this blow almost immediately after my little convo with the Universe.
A few days later, though, I did the same thing I’ve been doing for a few years now whenever there’s an issue with my body: Looked it up in the table of ailments and their causes at the back of a book called You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay.
(For context, this table breaks down the metaphysical or “vibrational” reasons behind a long list of physical issues. In other words, it helps people with injuries or diseases answer the question of “How did I manifest this?”)
When I tracked down the section on toe injuries, this hit me:
“Toes represent the minor details of the future.”
And from a separate article about this section of the book on Google:
“Toe injuries [are] physical manifestations of a needless emotional worry about future details.”
Of course, this isn’t a clinical textbook, and you can take these explanations with a grain of salt. But this one rang true for me as soon as I read it—because I realized at the time, I did have some worries about long-term future details that I had still been allowing to weigh on my mind.
And as soon as that clicked, I realized my prayer for Universal guidance had already been answered in an unexpected way.
Turns out, with this interpretation, my purple sore toe was life’s way of smackin’ me upside the head for not heeding the message I received on our first night at Nacpan Beach. It was saying:
“Riley, dude! I already told you: Give it a rest with this need to see how it all works out. I’ve got the future covered for you. Now, get your head out of your arse and enjoy this gorgeous beach already!”
I might not have listened well enough the first time, but the second time I got this message loud and clear. I took it to heart for the rest of our time in the Philippines (albeit with a slight limp), and have been reminding myself of it ever since.
In case you’re wondering, my toe has been healing nicely and is almost back to normal as of this writing. Phew!
Lastly, if this type of reflection seems like your jam, I highly recommend checking out You Can Heal Your Life the next time life gives you a little bump. It might just be trying to tell you something.
Until next week,
–Riley
P.S. Are there any topics you’d like to see me cover in a future newsletter? If so, let me know in the replies. I’m always open to questions and suggestions.
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