When my husband and I first met, we spent a lot of time dreaming about all of the things that we wanted to do together in the future. The trips we wanted to take, the things we wanted to see, the people we wanted to meet…the world was our oyster and we were the pearls. One of the things on our list was that we both wanted to learn how to surf. Neither one of us had ever lived in a coastal city before hence the culture of surfing was never something that either of us were exposed to. With that fantasy tucked away in our back pockets, we decided that our honeymoon was as good a time as any to check surfing off our list of dreams to live.
So, we got married, packed our bags and headed for the Hawaiian Islands, home to some of the most famous surfing beaches in the world. As you can imagine, one of the first things we did after arriving in Hawaii was to find ourselves a surf instructor. Sure enough, we stumbled upon this guy who must have been about two hundred years old (or at least resembled a two hundred year old hand bag!) and had been surfing long before he was even walking. With a slight nudge in the ribs to wake him up, we had found the guy that was going to help us ride the waves!
I’ll be the first to admit that I was quite confident in my abilities as a surfer. So much so in fact that I was positive that once I had started, not only were my feet going to be forever glued to a surf board but, I was also sure that MTV was going to be hunting me down to play in the next Blue Crush movie! Believe me…I had a plan and that plan included a tanned, chiseled, bikini wearing version of the self I currently was!
Of course, every plan has a few holes in it and my surfing plan simply didn’t account for the fact that surfing is an incredibly humbling sport!!! From the moment that we hit the water we understood our first challenge; that fitness in one sport doesn’t necessarily translate into another sport!! Obviously, being fit makes any sport a bit easier but, just because I could stand in running shoes or stand in skates, did not mean that I could stand on a fiberglass board in the middle of the ocean!
Steve, on the other hand, could do so. Apparently, being able to stand on a fiberglass board on frozen water is quite similar to standing on a fiberglass board on unfrozen water! There is the slight issue of movement but, more or less, knowing how to snowboarding definitely puts the odds in your favour. So while my brand new husband proceeded to show the Hawaiians what a snowboarding kid from the Great White North could really do, I began to learn the fine art of balance for what seemed like the first time in my life.
As I come down from a rather junky week of feeling overwhelmed and under nourished (emotionally that is), I caught myself thinking about this story over and over again because I’m finding that, much to my surprise, balance in surfing is really not that different than balance in life. Lose your balance, and you’re in over your head in ocean deep water…keep your balance, and the shore is never more than a wave away.
Let’s stop for a moment and consider what it is that keeps us upright? What is it that helps us to maintain our balance? As just about any athlete knows, stability and balance comes from having a strong core. Your core centers you and enables everything else to function as you need it to. The giant muscles that make up your core holds you steady and keeps you grounded. Without it, you find yourself relying on stability that just isn’t there. You are relying on pillars of limbs to hold you in place and in turn, doesn’t allow for much flexibility because one quick movement…and you’ll likely find yourself stumbling and grasping to anything that can help keep you in place. Let’s be honest, life, like our bodies, is full of unexpected turns and sudden, abrupt stops. Life requires the same muscle strengthening as our bodies do to keep us stable. Our values and morals make up the very core of who we are and with a strong understanding of them, we can continue to stand strong in the face of any wave. Without them, nothing else will hold up when the tides turn. The ocean may be strong…but we can be even stronger.
I think it’s worth mentioning though that even in the water with your surfboard floating in front of you…all is not lost. Our cores take time to develop and the balance often comes when we aren’t even looking. In the meantime though, while you’re learning to stand upright and figuring out where your balance actually is, you might find yourself catching a glimpse of the shore and ocean around you…and remembering that you’re in Hawaii…on your honeymoon…with the most handsome man you’ve ever met. You wake up to brunch under the palms trees and watch the sun go down to champagne and the sand between your toes. Life is good where the waves roll in and yes, it’s true, I wouldn’t want to spend forever on a surfboard without my balance but damn, if I’m going to have to stumble once or twice…there is no better place than this beach, this ocean and this life…to do it in.
So, we got married, packed our bags and headed for the Hawaiian Islands, home to some of the most famous surfing beaches in the world. As you can imagine, one of the first things we did after arriving in Hawaii was to find ourselves a surf instructor. Sure enough, we stumbled upon this guy who must have been about two hundred years old (or at least resembled a two hundred year old hand bag!) and had been surfing long before he was even walking. With a slight nudge in the ribs to wake him up, we had found the guy that was going to help us ride the waves!
I’ll be the first to admit that I was quite confident in my abilities as a surfer. So much so in fact that I was positive that once I had started, not only were my feet going to be forever glued to a surf board but, I was also sure that MTV was going to be hunting me down to play in the next Blue Crush movie! Believe me…I had a plan and that plan included a tanned, chiseled, bikini wearing version of the self I currently was!
Of course, every plan has a few holes in it and my surfing plan simply didn’t account for the fact that surfing is an incredibly humbling sport!!! From the moment that we hit the water we understood our first challenge; that fitness in one sport doesn’t necessarily translate into another sport!! Obviously, being fit makes any sport a bit easier but, just because I could stand in running shoes or stand in skates, did not mean that I could stand on a fiberglass board in the middle of the ocean!
Steve, on the other hand, could do so. Apparently, being able to stand on a fiberglass board on frozen water is quite similar to standing on a fiberglass board on unfrozen water! There is the slight issue of movement but, more or less, knowing how to snowboarding definitely puts the odds in your favour. So while my brand new husband proceeded to show the Hawaiians what a snowboarding kid from the Great White North could really do, I began to learn the fine art of balance for what seemed like the first time in my life.
As I come down from a rather junky week of feeling overwhelmed and under nourished (emotionally that is), I caught myself thinking about this story over and over again because I’m finding that, much to my surprise, balance in surfing is really not that different than balance in life. Lose your balance, and you’re in over your head in ocean deep water…keep your balance, and the shore is never more than a wave away.
Let’s stop for a moment and consider what it is that keeps us upright? What is it that helps us to maintain our balance? As just about any athlete knows, stability and balance comes from having a strong core. Your core centers you and enables everything else to function as you need it to. The giant muscles that make up your core holds you steady and keeps you grounded. Without it, you find yourself relying on stability that just isn’t there. You are relying on pillars of limbs to hold you in place and in turn, doesn’t allow for much flexibility because one quick movement…and you’ll likely find yourself stumbling and grasping to anything that can help keep you in place. Let’s be honest, life, like our bodies, is full of unexpected turns and sudden, abrupt stops. Life requires the same muscle strengthening as our bodies do to keep us stable. Our values and morals make up the very core of who we are and with a strong understanding of them, we can continue to stand strong in the face of any wave. Without them, nothing else will hold up when the tides turn. The ocean may be strong…but we can be even stronger.
I think it’s worth mentioning though that even in the water with your surfboard floating in front of you…all is not lost. Our cores take time to develop and the balance often comes when we aren’t even looking. In the meantime though, while you’re learning to stand upright and figuring out where your balance actually is, you might find yourself catching a glimpse of the shore and ocean around you…and remembering that you’re in Hawaii…on your honeymoon…with the most handsome man you’ve ever met. You wake up to brunch under the palms trees and watch the sun go down to champagne and the sand between your toes. Life is good where the waves roll in and yes, it’s true, I wouldn’t want to spend forever on a surfboard without my balance but damn, if I’m going to have to stumble once or twice…there is no better place than this beach, this ocean and this life…to do it in.
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