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Then click "read more" to continue reading.
Hope you enjoy!
 I wrote this blog on my four-day “sabbatical” in Carlsbad, California. The quotes around sabbatical isn’t my doing but others’ when I told them I’m going on sabbatical, and they follow up with “how long?” Hence, the quotes around "sabbatical." One of the items on my bucket list was to learn how to surf. Little did I know how much I would learn from surfing itself. As I reflect on the first three months of 2024, I was amazed to see various parallels within what has happened to start the year in the expansion efforts of our team in LA, and how it relates to surfing. More on that later. The 7 A.M. Surf Lesson Yep, that’s right. I was out on the beach at 6:50 am in a semi-damp wetsuit I managed to shimmy onto my shivering, cold body. The weather was in the 60s and my mind was both calm from the view, and racing with the idea of getting out into the ocean which would soon become reality. I only surfed once before when I was ten years old. Back then, we were in Hawaii for a family vacation and my parents bought surfboards at Costco because it was way cheaper than renting boards and hiring cute instructors in which me and my sister only managed to focus on rather than the surfing itself. So, we learned on our own…and it wasn’t pretty. Sam managed to use the surfboard as a tanning bed, and I had no clue what I was doing. It was one wipe out I had where I clearly remember the frantic fear and panic of not being able to find the top of the water for what felt like five minutes. I remember getting out of the water and I saw my sister laughing with my parents; I approached them emotionally, crying bloody murder for not watching me. They looked at me and then each other confused and told me they saw the gnarly wipeout and then watched my head eventually pop out of the water moments later. Sigh. I could tell you the drama days are over, but I’m still a pretty dramatic person in general depending on the occasion and topic.  Preparation: It’s all about mindset Before we hit the waves, Homer (instructor) had me practice jumping up on the board with the correct stance so that I would be able to feel the familiarity of the movement when out in the water. He told me to stop looking at my feet when I propped my body up from paddling position to mounting the board with flat feet. "If you keep your eyes down, you will fall. You must look out and ahead.” I practiced several more times. Once he felt I was ready, he took the large foam board out to the water and told me if I could get up on this one, we could size down to the 8-foot board to make paddling easier. I paddled out past the impact zone where the tide would be at the peak and just begin to turn into crashing waves; Homer was a big help with pushing me from the back. In fact, if I’m being honest, my paddling did absolutely nothing, lol. He told me I needed to work on strengthening my core, so I didn’t waddle and to get better at swimming. I didn’t disagree. Once we got to the prime area past the impact zone, the waters were so calm. Looking out to the shore, the sun was coming out behind the overcast clouds, and it was absolutely breathtaking. We talked about life, family, and surfing. I told him how so much of me coming out here and doing what I said I would was a mindset game. I said: “I feel like everything in life is all about mindset.” He agreed. I asked him who was the oldest person he taught, and he told me about a man who was 77 years old. He said he was glad I didn't wait that long. Homer was from Hawaii and has been teaching surf for 15 years. “The best part of my morning is being on the ocean with Mother Nature. You learn so much from surfing.” Before I could respond, he spotted a wave and turned me sideways. “When I say ‘Paddle!’ you focus on paddling – fast but paced. When I say ‘up,’ you prop up on the board. Just like we practiced.” I was so nervous, my heart was beating out of my chest. I started to paddle at his cue and heard him shout “UP!” and I used my upper body to push up on the board and grip my feet to the foundation as I looked straight ahead. I didn't look down. I was gliding with the tide and smiling big. I head Homer scream “Wahoo!!!” I jumped off midway so I wouldn’t have to paddle back out all the way from shore and we went four more times; he taught me how to “drop” and balance my board with my stance to stay on top of the wave. On the fourth up, the wave felt so right that I rode it past impact zone and to shore. I grabbed the smaller board as Homer requested and went back out to the waves. The waves were much larger than they were at the ripe hour of barely 7.  The wipeout is not just a physical process of falling off during a ride. It is also an emotional process of facing up to the fact that, at that point, the wave's bundled energy, saltwater passion and rapid motion outwitted you. A wipeout signals that you are not perfect. Wipeouts quickly strip away the ego and, if you let them, build character. Learning from experience is a prime tenet of mindfulness. And the underwater rinse cycle feeds right into muscle memory and exercises the questioning mind. The wipeout is a pathway to humility. Unknown; some cute book I found on surfing at a boutique in Encinitas The Impact Zone: Facing Fears and Not Being A Wimp (aka. Not Giving Up) You have two options to get past the impact zone: you can go over it or through it. To go over it, you jump on your board and paddle fast. When the wave hits, you lift your upper body up so the nose of your board follows and hope you can get over it. But, if the waves are too big, you must let your board go and brave through the crashing waves. Getting back out was a struggle. I tried the to go over the wave first and toppled right off my board. I managed to gulp a whole lot of sea water through both my nose and mouth. I found the top of the water, and before I knew it, I fell into another tide crashing. I heard Homer cry out to let go of the board and DUCK (I may have said something different). Another wave, larger than the first, enveloped me in and I went tumbling. My ears were popping as the force of the wave shoved water into every crevice of my body, and I was back to when I was ten years old. I frantically searched for the top of the water. It’s one of those moments where you try your hardest to conserve your breath, but the panic keeps you too preoccupied. I got to the top, and I hear Homer somewhere near. “You good!?” I scream back: “I want to go back to shore!” (in a less nice way) He gave it right back to me, "Stop being a wimp!! Keep paddling!" We eventually got past impact, but it wasn’t fun. “You can’t do that when it gets hard! You need to stay calm. That’s what happens when you are in the impact zone!" He was frustrated and I felt bad, but at the same time, he was being paid to teach me, so I didn’t feel too terrible. Riding the Waves I went up three more times. Instead of riding back to shore, I would get up, and then hop back on my board before I get to impact zone. I proudly told Homer I would avoid the impact zone at all costs, and I’m sure he was fine with that given who he would have to deal with after experiencing anxious Liv. “That’s the thing; everything we talked about goes out the door when you have a bad hit,” he said. “You can’t just quit.” I asked him if he ever had huge wipe outs and he said, “Of course!” I started to panic as more surfers came out. I asked him how to avoid the surfers and he told me I worried too much. I didn’t get it, though. What if I was on a wave and there was someone I was about to crash into or vice versa? “Stop worrying about it.” he repeated. “It's an individual sport. Other surfers will get out of your way; you just keep going and focus on yourself. If you try to hop off or avoid them, that’s when accidents happen.” I thought that was interesting, but I believed him. It was an individual sport. It was almost 8:30am and he told me to ride the wave back to shore. I was so grateful for Homer, and everything I learned from surfing. I thought to myself, “Would I do it again?” I was both still traumatized from the wipe out, but equally ecstatic and energized with being out in the ocean and riding the waves. Training Ahead: There are individual things I need to work on such as getting back into swimming and strengthening my core to be better when I get back into the water. I plan to continue to let Homer teach me the ways of the water, timing the waves, and form/technique. I learned about the importance in looking up and out, rather than down. If you start with your head to your toes, you will lose balance and never get up. I learned how fun it is to do something you are equally excited as afraid about; to do it with someone you can trust who has experience makes it better, especially when it is an individual sport. I learned how there’s no avoiding the impact zone. You need to get past it to experience the joy of riding the waves. Unfortunately, getting past it may include enduring the crashes and pushing through, but it all goes back to mindset and followed with a choice. You can “go back to shore” in my weak words, or “stop being a wimp” in Homer’s. There’s so much to learn with surfing.
Epilogue: |
oh, hey there!
My name is Liv, and I'm happy you made it here! |
