A Change in Wind

Diamond Beach lies along Iceland’s southern coast, where black sand meets shards of glacial ice drifting from Jökulsárlón lagoon, fed by the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, and pushed back onto shore by the Atlantic Ocean. Iceland is one of the windiest countries in the world, and on Diamond Beach, the wind quietly reshapes the shore.

Upon first arrival, the beach and lagoon appear as if freshly reset. The black sand stretches wide and empty, the lagoon calm, and all the sparkling ice chunks that give the beach its name have been swept away, as if the wind had shaken the landscape clean like an Etch A Sketch. Even so, to what was known at the time, it is still breathtaking, a quiet and stark beauty, a reminder that the world here is never static and that a simple shift in wind can completely transform what is seen.

Overnight, the wind shifts. Ice that had drifted out to sea returns, pushed onto shore by the Atlantic, washing up in glowing blue and white clusters across the sand. The beach that had seemed empty and quiet the day before now glimmers alive. All it takes is a change in wind. That moment lingers in memory. It demonstrates that timing can be just as decisive as effort or location. One can do everything right, show up in the right place, and still not see what is hoped for, and that is okay. Sometimes the place does not need to change. One simply needs to meet it at a different moment.

It is a simple lesson, but one that reaches far beyond travel. In life, in work, in the things that are built and crafted, timing cannot always be forced. The best approach is to keep showing up, prepared to notice what the day brings. Waiting endlessly for perfect conditions risks missing what is already in front of us.

Every experience offers something, perhaps not what was imagined, but something to carry along, packed into the proverbial suitcase for later. Lessons that do not make sense today may prepare the way for what comes next.

Standing on Diamond Beach, watching the ice glow in the early light, it is clear how much can change overnight. A simple shift in wind can transform the same place into something entirely new. And maybe that is the point, the beauty of life, like the landscape, often depends on the moment it is met.

Sometimes the only difference between what is missed and what is found is a change in wind.