What Returning to the East Coast & Atlantic Taught Me About Change
There’s nothing like a seaside escape on the Atlantic Ocean to stir up familiar feelings and long-held memories.
From a young age, it was annual July trips with my family to Ocean City, Maryland. One summer we detoured to Carolina Beach, North Carolina, but we always returned to Ocean City—a rhythm that continued until I graduated high school. Family friends from back home in Pennsylvania often made the same seven-hour drive, filling the week with a comforting blend of familiar faces and places.
Like many who crave the sights, sounds, and smells of summer at the shore, returning to the same spot was satisfying. Comforting.
Where many core memories formed.
Years later, when I lived in Hoboken, NJ I joined friends for weekends at the Jersey Shore and even a classic summer share house. I spent time in Martha’s Vineyard a few summers too. And after returning to NYC in 2012 (from living in Chicago for 4 years), I started exploring Long Island beaches—Montauk, the Hamptons, Rockaway, Long Beach. There were a few trips to Virginia Beach and then trips to Bethany Beach, Delaware with the family when my brother started dating his now wife.
Each spot had its own vibe, but the essence of East Coast beaches always felt the same:
Salty air, wide soft sand, that chill of the Atlantic.
Cloudy sandy swirls in the water.
Waves that change with the tide.
This summer, after seven years away, I found myself back on the East Coast, spending a week with family in Bethany Beach.
And it was… familiar. The sounds, the smells, the sky. All still there.
There’s something about returning to familiar places that stirs old memories—and reveals how far we’ve come.
I’m genuinely happy my brother and his family have found their special place. And I get why people return to the same beach town year after year—it’s grounding and nostalgic.
But if I’m being honest, I never felt like I was meant to be an East Coast regular for life.
I’ve always loved the ocean—it's where I feel most at ease.
But I’ve also felt this quiet, persistent pull to explore elsewhere.
To spend time in new places.
To follow the unknown and see what might feel like mine.
What once felt grounding now feels limiting—but also clarifying.
I see what I want more clearly.
I used to think I had to find my spot—one perfect place to return to again and again.
But now I understand that familiar, safe, and joyful can happen in many places.
It’s about how I feel when I’m there.
Home is a feeling—not a fixed location.
And it’s okay to appreciate the past and not want to stay there.
You can love what was—and still crave something more.
So for now, I’ll keep following the nudges.
Staying open.
Exploring what speaks to me.
Because I understand more than ever now — that sense of comfort, belonging, and aliveness?
It isn’t tied to just one place.
It’s a feeling that can rise again and again, in places I haven’t yet been.
And so I’ll keep going.
Letting the familiar remind me of where I’ve been — while staying open to where I’m meant to land next.
Trusting that I’ll recognize it when I feel it.
Because home isn’t behind me or ahead of me — it lives in me.
👉 Can you relate?
Curious to plan travel that stirs your soul—and helps you connect with that feeling of home within yourself?
Reach out here and send me a message—I’d love to help you design it.
Love,
Megan
Side note - the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the world - In Morocco - is VERY much the same as in the U.S.! When I was at a beach a few months ago near Casablanca, I honestly would have thought I was somewhere along the East Coast of the U.S.!
