What would make you happy?
Is there anything stopping you from taking that happiness now?
The feeling of surfing is something not easily described by words alone, it is something that needs to be felt, experienced, it is something that you can’t define within the realms of language.
From the very moment your alarm screams shrill noises into your silent slumber to the moment you stumble from the ocean, limbs like jelly you experience something that many people may never. The early morning breakfast, the drive that you make half awake, still rubbing sleep from your grainy eyes and blasting music to clear your brain from the cobwebs that infested your mind the night before. The whole drive you squint at each tree you drive past trying to work out the wind direction and speed. Once you arrive you encounter the grumbling surfers who were dragged out of bed by their mates, or the dawn chasing surfers who bounce around the car park like a little kid on Christmas.
You stumble your way to the best view of the surf, squinting through the sunrise to decipher what the swell is doing. As each wave rolls through you mind surf it, imagining yourself taking off on the peak and ripping your way down the line, hacking the face to bits and finishing it off with a huge manoeuvre.
If the surf is bad your morning ends there, you’re mind turns off and you stumble back to your car and back home, possibly passing maccas or a cafe for a quick feed… but if the surfs good… well your mind starts racing as you jog back to the car, you quickly get changed in the carpark as others do the same. The sound of wax being rubbed across the surface of boards quickly fills the air as excited chatter and banter is thrown around.
The next thing you know you’re jogging, board under arm towards the ocean. No one really knows why they jog, and I bet most people don’t consider it, but there’s just some primal instinct that once you commit to entering the water you can’t wait any longer. There’s a pull towards the ocean that stops you from ambling and makes you get moving.
Then comes the crucial moment as you reach the water’s edge… The water laps gently at your feet as you watch the waves, counting the sets, watching the waters movement waiting for your chance. There are two options here, you can either gently ease yourself step by step into the ocean or charge you’re hardest and completely douse yourself.
That first duck dive is the magic and the nightmare in a single instant. Your whole body submerges beneath the water, cutting out the very last whispers from the real world. Everything calms around you, your movements slow and steady through the liquid surrounding you. Life’s problems melt away momentarily as it becomes just you and the water, thoughts clearing and life becoming simpler.
Whether you’re in a pool, duck diving under waves, or just swimming in the ocean, that momentary silence is one of the most beautiful things you will ever experience.
Your body starts to uptake the movement back to the surface and your body kicks back to action. Water rushing across your face as you re-emerge to the world, washing away the world’s problems, ready for whatever life throws your way. It doesn’t matter if you take this at winter’s sparkling dawn or summer’s caress; both are filled with a mixture of perfect sunrises and intense fun. For surfing is something like no other, it brings together people like no other… And as overused as it is, only a surfer knows the feeling.
(via samueldhall)
