Being a self-confessed travel junkie, I am an adventurer and explorer in life. I have tried Paragliding in Croatia, Bungee Jumping in South Africa, Riding a Yellow Submarine in St. Barths, Walking Around the Walls of Dubrovnik, Eating a Live Octopus in Greece, American Regatta in St. Maarten, River Tubing in Grenada, Diving in Tobago Cays and a lot more interesting things…and how can I miss surfing at one of the best surfing spots in my own country?!
That very first wave on the beach in San Juan, La Union seems like months ago, but somehow I can remember it like it was yesterday. Every time I think back to the first time I stood up and found myself able to repeat that again and again throughout that surf session, I can’t refrain from smiling and think just how much the pursuit of waves has changed my life. It has defined me in ways I never thought it would, and left me with the constant desire to be stoked for life. With all of that it’s also brought a variety of lessons that are of significance throughout every part of my life.
SURFING has taught me:
1. Discipline
It is the kind of discipline that I’ve never had in my life. It’s the kind of discipline that I believe you need to make your dreams a reality. It’s a discipline that requires no authority figures to enforce and it’s the kind of dispcline that teaches you the importance of just showing up everyday.
2. Commitment
Somehow after the first wave I made a commitment to myself that I will have the courage to stand up on every given wave. I was determined to do whatever it took as it tested my patience and built my character. It meant putting on a wetsuit and forgetting about the hot sun burning your face and body because I had experienced the greatest natural high in the world. It meant forgetting about the small things, riding out the storm, and giving it everything I had to be able to stand up and surf with the waves.
3. Patience
Ah mother nature, how I love you for your inconsistency, your temperamental nature and your leisurely schedule. As much as I’d love for you to be on my schedule, I’m clearly on yours. If there’s anything that surfing teaches you it’s patience. You are on the schedule of the ocean and you’ll wait patiently sometimes for 45 minutes, for a 10 second moment of happiness because it’s just that good. One last wave is the curse of every surfer because the moment you utter those words you’ll either catch a perfect wave and paddle right back out for another one. Or you’ll catch on that isn’t quite good enough to call it a day. But the moment you utter those words, that final wave seems to take forever and eventually you become truly patient.
4. Persistence
I’ve persisted through conditions beyond my skill level and emerged with an addiction so strong I go through withdrawal on days out of the water. When you’re so damn persistent, some day define you as stubborn. Pay no attention to them and charge forward. They might eventually label you just stubborn enough.
5. Courage
Every single time you paddle out, knowing that all it takes is one good wave, you put yourself in a situation of uncertainty and potential danger. No matter what you keep going back for more and everyday and every moment you conquer fear just a little bit. You find the courage to just keep going because of the ear to ear smile that you’ll be rewarded with.
6. Humility
The power of the ocean will always leave you humbled. A force larger than life with a mind of its own is what your faced with on a daily basis. It teaches you humility and puts things in perspective. Suddenly things that seemed to matter no longer do, even it is for the briefest of moments.
7. Presence
Those of us on a spiritual journey continually seek presence without really ever understanding it. We know logically that the only moment we have is now, but the experience of now, of flow is one we struggle to grasp. Riding waves has taught me presence. When you drop into a wave your mind goes blank and all your thinking about is what the wave you’re on is going to do next. Is it going to close out? Is it going to pummel me? Is it going to take me for the ride of my life?
It may not be the hardest adventure I’ve ever been, but It was the adventure of a lifetime that brought me to some realities in life. I believe that from time to time, the Universe throws us a test, a challenge. It’s life’s way of reminding us that we’re still alive. To shake us out of our comfort zone, to force us to evolve a little more. To see how far we can stretch.
Now, I wake up everyday knowing that I will always have the ocean (life) to look forward too, and no matter what happens, riding waves (challenges in life) will always keep a smile on my face….because it’s these challenges in life that keeps us going and growing!
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