"Forcing your way through the sets is futile…Find a friendly
current and let it carry you. Relax when the sets sweep over your body. Be as
yielding as water is. Think too much and you’ll be wrenched backwards. Take
your deep breaths, dive under the incoming waves and let the remnants of the
river bear you outward. Newer surfers…would blindly charge out into the
maelstrom, only to get batted back every time; the older ones, wiser through
observation and experience, put themselves in the correct places and let the
water do the work….The surf zone, where the sweet meets the salt, tells us
this: Any challenge, any confrontation, can be met with fluid grace. Move as if
you were a thin stream that had begun in the mountains weeks before….The only
way through is to flow." -- "Waves" Coast Mountain Culture, Fall 2014.
I’ve spent a lot of time surfing this summer, and a better
portion of that time has been spent getting crushed by incoming waves. I’m new
to the water, new to this surf thing, and competitive as all hell, angry that I
can’t get out to where the other surfers make things look so easy.
So this passage spoke to me, but its life metaphor is what
really hit home. A lot of people I know, myself included, are reaching that
point in our young lives that feels like the crash zone, the floundering victim
of unrelenting personal and professional turmoil. These words from Coast
Mountain Culture helped provide a moment of pause and clarity though—just
because we’re getting pounded by the waves life is sending our way doesn’t mean
we’re not moving in the right direction. Inch by inch, we move forward, past
the break and into smoother waters. And then, as the metaphor goes, we get to
catch our wave, and suddenly it’s all worth it.
To all of you out there struggling against the current, keep
paddling, find your path, and flow on.
Here’s a photo roll from a recent trip to Tofino on
Vancouver Island. Ironically, the only thing I don’t have pictures of is the
surfing itself. Oh well, you’ll have to believe me, I guess.
When your stove breaks, things get desperate...
