While my kids were both here over the holidays, we took a tour up the coast from Belfast to Giant’s Causeway. It was surreal to see such an iconic setting—a world heritage site—it felt almost like a dream. Part of that, I think, is how long I had been planning this trip, thinking about it, hoping for it, that actually being here doesn’t feel real. And then, we stepped into a bone-chilling cold too intense to be a dream.
Massive basalt columns rise out of the ocean like spires. They’re shaped like interlocking hexagonal pavers of various heights. Over 40,000 of them line the causeway coast of Northern Ireland. A causeway (I had to look it up) is a raised road or track across wet ground, so these volcanic rocks are a type of raised path along the ocean’s edge. Looking down from the cliffs, the coast looks almost like a pebbled beach. It’s not until you trek down the sloped path to their level that you get a sense of their massive presence.
A giant, a myth, and a legend
As legend has it, a giant named Finn MacCool (also spelled Finn McCool) picked a fight with a giant across the ocean in Scotland. He built a causeway between Ireland and Scotland (about 13 miles per our guide), but when he got there, he realized the other giant was bigger than he was, so he ran back home. The other giant followed, so MacCool’s wife wrapped a sheet around him and pretended that he was their baby. When the other giant saw the size of the baby, he assumed MacCool would be ginormous, so he ran back to Scotland, tearing apart the causeway as he ran.
The columns do look manmade (or giant-made), so it’s easy to see how they might lead to the story of Finn MacCool. The rocks were actually created from a lava flow that cooled quickly and there are similar columns across the sea in Scotland (so I’ve read… I’ll have to investigate for myself eventually).
The Scottish giant’s run across the causeway, tearing it up as he went, is similar to my own flight here. I tore up the bridge to my past life by quitting my job and giving up my things. The giant chasing me seemed massive, so I cut ties with the people and places that had once been my home.
Giant’s Causeway is one of those places that helps put life in perspective. From far away, the rocks look small. Up close, they’re massive. The view depends on where you put the lens. Hard times, challenging times, are like that as well. When you’re living through something hard—and being here is financially and personally challenging—it’s easy to feel small, surrounded by massive problems. But if you take a step back, climb the cliff and look back down at it, it’s not as massive as you once thought.
Leaving the U.S. took massive effort. Just clearing away decades worth of debris and culling my belongings down to fit into a small storage closet took more effort that I had imagined. It was exhausting both physically and emotionally. In the middle of it, it felt insurmountable. And then there was travel arrangements, financial arrangements, last goodbyes with friends. All of it felt impossible, but as I look back, those problems don’t seem as insurmountable as I made them at the time. Because I was too close to see them clearly.
Distance, in this case time, makes all the difference.
Thanks so much for reading. I’ll have more pictures of Giant’s Causeway up on Instagram this week.
Join me on my journey. I have no idea what I’m doing or where I’ll end up, but the best moments in life are usually spontaneous.