Taking a Time-In, St. Lucia Style

POST AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROBERT BRODEY

It’s spring 2024, and though the pandemic is largely over and most of us have “gotten on with our lives,” a long shadow still lingers. Not that I, or maybe you, think about it regularly. But for several grinding years, our lives were interrupted — whether we got covid, suffered long covid, lost someone we loved from it, missed medical appointments that could have mitigated health issues, or suffered losses to our business/work. Of course, there was also the harsh impact on our social lives.

And let’s be clear, humans at our core are social animals. We need regular social interactions for our mental and physical well-being. And the pandemic obliterated that. Almost overnight, social relationships were interrupted in the most profound ways, ways that we still can’t fully grasp. I suspect it will take several years to track the long-term impact of this isolation, whether it’s the rise in social anxiety and mental health emergencies or other changes in our social (or anti-social) behaviour.  

But, hold up, this post actually isn’t about Covid-19 or the pandemic!

It’s about saying yes. It’s about healing and finding space to socialize and recalibrate.

Last fall, I was talking with two close friends, Marlisa and Jonesy, who I’ve known for almost 30 years. The last few years had been challenging for us all in different ways, and I mentioned the idea of taking off for a week to St. Lucia to stay at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in a beautiful corner of the island. After some enthusiastic talk of the possibility, throwing around some dates, we actually stopped talking and put the plan into motion, booking plane tickets and making our getaway plan (the ability to do this, of course, requires a degree of privilege that many simply can’t contemplate).

I think the three of us knew the trip would be special, and even as we boarded the plane, we marvelled at the prospect of having together dreamed this trip into a reality. And, as much as I’m used to travelling alone, three definitely wasn’t a crowd. It was a perfect number to quickly arrive at a consensus on what to do and where to go. Even more perfect, none of us had an agenda beyond hanging out and being in our chill zone, whether it was sitting on a beach and watching the ocean for hours, soaking in the local hot springs (New Jerusalem), or noshing on some yummy roti from the local food joint (Hush in Choiseul).

This was, in fact, my fifth time back to St. Lucia, and on this trip I came to appreciate the meaning of returning to a place over and over again. Instead of snapping photos at every turn, I often kept the camera in its case and simply used my eyes and all my other senses to capture the experience. I also felt like I was seeing the familiar places more deeply, no longer gravitating to the shiniest objects in my sights (like the gorgeous Pitons that rise dramatically from the Caribbean).  

The house where we stayed (Sweet Breezes) is truly the brainchild of my brother-in-law, Simon,  who fell in love with the island back in 2010. Since that time, he and my sister have built a remarkable community, laying roots firmly in the soil. Of course, I have benefited from this, and the social connections we enjoyed during our stay really amplified the feeling of well-being and connectedness to the place.  If the trip had been just about sandy beaches and sunlight, I suspect the experience would have been a far less meaningful one for me and my friends.

One of the great things about travelling with the right people is finding the delicate balance between social time and solo time (and I’m an extraverted introvert, which means I need my alone time to recharge). That week, I had plenty of time to socialize but also to read and contemplate quietly. I even managed to blast through a paper edit of my next novel while swinging in a hammock — always with a view out to one of my creative inspirations, the vast shimmering ocean.

Sharing time with two of my very close friends and getting to experience St. Lucia together has only deepened our friendship, deepened our appreciation of who we are as individuals and as friends. And, in the end, what we had sought, we found: the release of tension that came with suffering through a years-long pandemic and all the baggage that came with it. Not only that, the trip was an affirmation of leaning into our social ties and saying yes to the things that bring renewal and a sense of possibility for the future. Yes, I say! Yes!

Check out this link to my short video shot while on the island: https://youtu.be/sBDv5M6jC0o?si=KKSW45LuYlb8ozE2

If you would like to read more of my work, my second novel, the wilderness thriller, The Long Run, is available in paperback and ebook here: https://a.co/d/aVrWg3p