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The sand was not as white as she expected. All those stories about the beach, all those pictures she had seen online of pristine white coasts left her feeling slightly misled as she stepped onto the grains colored with shades of tans and browns. Natalie felt the warmth of the sun begin to unthaw the chill of her frozen existence. She stared at the water, watching the waves gently roll in, listening to its cadence lead her into the serenity she sought so desperately. It didn’t matter what color the sand was. This was home now.

She hadn’t thought twice about where she was headed the day she blew up her life, finally claiming enough was enough. Her unrelenting workload combined with her inability to say no was the very reason she had never seen the sand. But as she walked out of her firm with her life in a box, stopping only long enough to leave goodbye voicemail messages to the toxic attachments that she used to think she needed, there were no regrets. Natalie knew it was let go or be dragged. Something inside her shattered that day. But those broken pieces lay at her feet unwanted, representing nothing more than the mask she was done hiding behind. Some would say she lost her mind. Some would say she threw away a life others dreamed of. She knew the truth. She was free. The chains of the life everyone else thought she should live bound her no more.