My Journey with the Jellyfish Vibe
Alright, so I wanted to share something I’ve been tinkering with lately – this idea of a jellyfish animal totem. Sounds a bit out there, maybe, but stick with me. It wasn’t like I woke up one day and decided jellyfish were my spirit guide. It kind of just… happened.
I kept seeing them, you know? Not just physically at the beach, though there was that too during a trip last summer. But pictures, references, even dreams. Just jellyfish popping up all over the place. Usually, I’d just shrug that stuff off, but it got frequent enough that I thought, “Okay, what’s the deal here?”
So, I did what most people do. Looked it up. Found a bunch of stuff online about flow, trust, transparency, sensitivity, faith in the process. Honestly, at first, it felt a bit vague. Like, okay, “go with the flow,” sure, but what does that actually look like day-to-day?
I decided to try a little experiment. For a week, I made a conscious effort to just… well, flow. My plan was simple: notice when I felt resistance to small, unexpected changes and try to just adapt instead of getting worked up.
- Example 1: Friend cancels coffee last minute. Old me would have been annoyed, felt like my schedule was messed up. New me tried to just say, “Okay, no worries,” and actually mean it. Found myself using that unexpected free hour to do something else I’d been putting off. Felt surprisingly… less stressful.
- Example 2: Traffic jam on the way somewhere. Instead of fuming, I put on some music I liked and just accepted, “Well, I’m going to be late.” Not much I could do about it anyway, right? The anger didn’t make the cars move faster.
It wasn’t about being lazy or passive. It was more about not wasting energy fighting things I couldn’t control. Just shifting course gently, like a jellyfish does in the current.
Not Just Floating, Though
But then there’s the other side of jellyfish, isn’t there? The sting. That got me thinking. “Flow” doesn’t mean letting everything wash over you or having no boundaries. Jellyfish might look soft and drifty, but they have a way of saying “back off” when needed.
So, I started paying more attention to my own ‘stings’ – those gut feelings or moments when an interaction felt draining or off. Instead of ignoring it or trying to power through, I started trying to gently create space. Not confrontational, just… easing away from situations or conversations that felt wrong. It felt like listening to my own subtle warning system.
What I noticed doing this:
- Less internal friction when plans changed.
- More awareness of my own energy levels and how people/situations affected them.
- A weird sense of trust that things would sort themselves out, even if not according to my original rigid plan.
- Recognizing that being sensitive or “transparent” (like a jellyfish) also involves knowing when to protect yourself.
It’s not some magic fix, obviously. Some days I’m still rigid and resistant. Some days I forget to pay attention to those gut feelings. It’s a practice, not a perfect state. But thinking about the jellyfish – the drifting, the reacting, the quiet boundary – gave me a different way to frame these ideas. It’s less about forcing things and more about navigating the currents life throws at you. Just my experience, anyway.
