How Surfing Can Change Your Life – Part II
Then there are life’s lessons learnt through the waves. Sometimes things are beyond our control. Sometimes the conditions just aren’t right for surfing, no matter how much you wish they might be.
You can’t control circumstances like that and it isn’t your fault either. Sometimes things just suck big time because that’s how life is. Deal with it and move on. Life is much too short to waste on futile regrets about situations you have no control over.
“In moments like this you realize that worrying is a complete waste of time and energy and that we tend to make a big deal out of real small things.” ? Peter Heller.
Learn patience, because it doesn’t matter how much you want it, the perfect wave will come when it comes, which may be the very next wave or it may not happen that day. And once you realise that impatience gets you absolutely nowhere, other than perhaps a short cut to frustration, you learn to bide your time waiting for the right opportunity and you learn to recognise it and embrace it when it arrives.
“people who turn their dreams into reality don’t put a timeline on their dream.” ? Peter Heller.
Persistence and courage — time and again you’ll get knocked off your surfboard or you’ll get dumped, injured, embarrassed because you misjudged the timing or made a tiny mistake or didn’t take preventative action in time.
It takes persistence and it takes courage to keep getting back on and going out for more. But eventually that perfect wave will come along and make all the spills and bruises worthwhile. That’s life — persistence in the face of adversity is what will get you through and without courage we would spend our lives shackled by perpetual fear. No one understands this better than a surfer.
Surfing is also all very much about living in the ‘now’. Surfing happens in real time. What happened a second ago is in the past. Leave it there. Dwelling on regrets is mostly futile unless you can learn something from them. What is about to happen is in the future. Leave that there too. Focus and keep track off what is happening right at this very second because that’s the only way you’ll know when you have to make split second decisions that could alter the course of the next few seconds.
So, yes, surfing can change how you live your life, it does change your perspective and the way you view the world and yourself in relation to what is happening around you. Surfing is quintessentially about you, your board and the sea. It’s about relying on yourself to meet and conquer challenges that are thrown at you. But most of all it’s about coming to an understanding with a capricious force of nature and through that understanding be in perfect harmony with it.
“We love surfers for the same reasons we have always admired doctors and pilots and firemen and shamans, for the same reasons we admire excellent soldiers: because despite themselves they have bowed to a force much greater than themselves, which in this case is the wave, and submitted to the gnarly rigors of its discipline.
They have allowed themselves to be shaped and polished by the sea.” ? Peter Heller, Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave.
How Surfing Can Change Your Life – Part II.
Article/Property ID Number 4926
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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