Do not give up on surfing. :) My life in the water started when I was very young but just around six years ago I decided to join a swim team. I sucked, but fell in love. I got better and ended up playing competitively. So when I discovered surfing... well, needless to say, I was in awe. Yes, it was fun to play around in a pool, but to be in the ocean? To feel the rhythm of the waves underneath me? To splash around with turtles and rays (and luckily for me, no sharks so far)? You cant beat it. Surfing is not just a sport, its a perspective. Its a way of life. Yes, that sounds dramatic, but hear me out. Surfing can teach you life lessons you wont learn anywhere else. Let me share a few with you. 1. Theres plenty of room at the top. Guarujá or any other beach in the summer (or not) is crowded. On your typical sunny weekend day when the waves are decent, the water is congested with hundreds of little black dots, each trying to carve out his or her own little corner of the ocean. For months, the crowds intimidated me so much that I wouldnt even go out. I felt insecure about my own abilities. I didnt think I belonged out there. Id wait until it was rainy or the water was choppy and go out when no other decent surfer would bother. If the waves looked good? Forget it. Id be at home. But then, as I spent more time in the water, I realized that of all those hundreds of bodies out there, only a small handful were actually going for the waves. The rest were just sitting around, hanging out. I had spent all this time being intimidated by competition that didnt even exist. Now when I go out, I dont care if I see a thousand bodies out there. I know there are enough waves for all of us who really want them. 2. Its not about any one huge effort -- its about focused, consistent work over time. Have you ever heard the expression that to be a writer, you need butt-in-chair time? Well the same is true for surfing. You need body-in-water time. Its not so important how much you do in a burst of inspiration. Its about how much you do day after day, when you just want to give up and go home. For the entire first six months I surfed, I didnt catch a single wave. But I hope for The next six months to catcht a few. Most of the hours and hours I spent in the ocean were passed paddling around, falling, getting beaten up and jealously watching all the other surfers who seemed to know what they were doing a lot better than I did. Then Id go home, tired and frustrated. But this was not time wasted. This was when I learned how waves worked, where to look, where to sit on my board, how to position myself, when I should move in because the tide was changing, when I should move out because a big set was coming from outside. One day, all of the sudden, Ill catch waves. I will just move on instinct. Put in your time. The results will come. 3. Most people are rooting for you, not trying to compete with you. Yes, every once in a while you come across a surfer with a stick up his ass, but more often than not, Im blown away by the generosity of the surfing community. Ive paddled out to the ocean alone and swam back with new friends. Ive had total strangers take me under their wing and show me the ropes for the few hours we found ourselves in the same waves, for no other reason than they had the expertise and saw I could use it. Those of us who love this sport -- we root for each other. We congratulate each other for good rides. We take turns. We see a good wave coming and say, You go right, Ill go left. We share. We want each other to succeed. Too many people operate under the delusion of competition, when the most helpful stance is collaboration. Dont make the mistake of getting competitive when other people just want to help you. Dont be the jerk whos pushing others out of the way when those people would freely give the way to you. 4. Theres no point fighting forces of nature. The ocean doesnt care about you. It is a force of nature that existed long before you were born and that will be around long after you turn to dust. It doesnt care if you have a good day surfing or a bad day. It doesnt care if it scares you. It doesnt care if it kills you. When a big wave knocks me over and holds me underwater, it wouldnt make much sense for me to get mad at it, right? But really, we operate that way all the time, fighting forces of life that are as unavoidable as the strength and immensity of the ocean. We fight that we have pain, get sick, get old, die. We fight that relationships end. We fight to string happy moment after happy moment, as if we could prevent anything bad from happening in between. Why do we do this to ourselves? Its a waste of time, and a waste of energy. We operate under the illusion of control when so many of the most important things in life arent even close to the realm of our control. But this doesnt have to be a terrifying concept. When you release yourself from the illusion of control, you can relax. You can put in your best effort but let things turn out how theyll turn out. You can find moments of joy in the most simple things. So dont fight forces of nature. Ride them.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 22:40:14 +0000
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