My plan was to visit Café del Mar twice, but exhausted and tired on my last night in Ibiza, I could not imagine getting on the Disco Bus to travel across the island to San Antonio. In some ways, I disappointed myself, but after countless hours of dancing the previous four days, I was exhausted and energized simultaneously. For me, EDM can be an addiction where I want to dance all day, everyday, but my reality is that I have an achilles heel for late night pursuits.
Every time I visit a beach I MUST watch the sunrise and the sunset. It reminds me that there are greater things in life than just myself. I guess this means I must go back to Ibiza, right?
I walked the sunset strip in the afternoon and stared at the ocean. The Café del Mar gift shop was open and I decided to shop. I stepped inside the shop and heard the famous Café del Mar music playing in the backdrop. I wandered around the shop and stumbled upon CD samples and headphones.
I looked at three different CD’s and listened to the Terrace Mix first. I placed the BOSE-inspired headphones on my ears and waited for the first song to play. Within several seconds my mind hooked onto the beat to one of my favorite songs called, The Sun Rising. I melted into a hypnotic state while watching the sun glisten atop of the ocean. In that moment, I felt free and one with the universe. I felt my body start to move.
Curious, I played the next song. The song opened and I felt tears pool in my eyes. I danced and rolled my left hand to the beat of the music. In the middle of the Café del Mar gift shop, I danced and cried my eyes out like a five year old child. In that particular moment, I felt free from constraint and the bullshit of life. Every time I am on the road I feel my best. Why? Because my soul was created this way and I advocate for quality of life.
I flashed back to the dreadful twelve-hour workdays and to the insecure bosses who either put me down or locked me inside of an office with fear of producing a “good idea.” I thought about how I pissed the last five years of my twenties down the drain worrying about work, success and having people like me.
Although my poverty-level income served my present moment, my life was abundant with experience. I would take experience over money any day of the week. I fell into what I call a, “meditation in motion” where my body and mind was in such a flow that I could not break the movement. Everything was in sync and I thanked the universe for this experience to live in Europe.
The song lasted seven minutes and those minutes seemed like hours. Dancing to the longest seven minutes of my life, I noticed how easily it is to change our life and mindset when we are open and free from overthinking. Do I think a song at Café del Mar changed my life? Yes. I did not become a millionaire, but I came “back to reality.” The reality that life should be best enjoyed and not caught up in some rat-race office politics in order to make it to senior level management. Every time I lived abroad I experienced the same feelings - freedom and dancing in the cafe was the most freeing experience for my soul.
It reminded me of the times I sat on the beach in Australia after surfing and not giving two shits about my career label. When I'm at the ocean, I could careless if I was a barista because of that connection to the sea. That moment reminded me that there is more to life than myself, work and labels. Why do I tear every time I’m at the ocean or with inspirational music?
The ocean washed away the drama and the music inspired creativity. I did not want that seven-minute song to end. Those seven minutes encouraged living a life of my own creation. It empowered my mindset that I can and deserve the life I want to create.
I played the song on repeat, and listened several more times. At this point, I was the only person in the gift shop and questioned if the cute cashier girl thought I was insane. I didn’t care but wiped my eyes and blew my snot-filled nose. The headphone battery died and I peeled them off my sun-soaked ears, turned to the girl and said, “I’ll take this CD please.”