Today I witnessed an amazing aspect of lil surfer girls personality. One that if she maintains will get her far in life. Today her perseverance was simply amazing. It was the first time going out into the water on a board without anyone assisting her. It was also the very first time using her brand new board. The surf was way rough. Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive to let her go but didnt want my feelings to deter her. So out she went. She rolled a few times (Ok it was a lot of times really). The fins of her board caught her foot and took a chunk of skin off (surfing and her right foot just dont seem to do well together, lol). And then she rolled and her board slammed her in the face. She came out of the water sobbing. In a moment of frustration she said I am done. I am never doing this again. I reminded her of Bethany Hamilton as well as her SO coaches. They have all at some point gotten hurt, sometimes a lot. But they kept practicing to get better. I explained that a person cant expect to just go be awesome at something without practicing. She wiped those tears and dragged that board back out into the water. She got tossed a few more times but she went out further. She paddled harder. She tried to stand up. And she did it again and again. She yelled. She cried more. She wiped some dripping snot away and she tried again. When I saw that her frustration was becoming to great, I told her that we would try again on a day that the surf wasnt so rough. But I pointed out all that she had done well. New board, no help, rough surf. Since the weather was turning bad we decided to leave. I kept praising all her efforts. And at that moment two surfers were entering the beach. They heard what I was saying to Julia and they told her that they had to keep practicing to get good. It took a stranger to convince her she really had done well today. Despite being frustrated, she kept at it. A time not so long ago, she would have given up, walked away and never looked back. I hope that as she grows older and faces challenges, that she faces them with the same tenacity that I saw in her today. Whatever life throws at you lil surfer girl just get back up and catch the next wave.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:20:48 +0000
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