TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | MAY 2019 11
By Allie Hayser
learn a new skill, borrow a friend’s kayak, whatever it was that might’ve
been just a fleeting thought of something that would be fun to try. Stay
active, pick up the phone and make plans with your friends, treat yourself
to other activities you love to do, and try to exercise your heart - when
you get blood pumping, your body and mind will feel so much better.
For surfers, it’s always a good thing to cross train while you are out of the
ocean for a while. Breathing exercises using your diaphragm, meditating,
and yoga are a great place to start and all you need is to set apart some
time for it. When you can’t do the surf ritual for your mornings, create a
new one by biking to a yoga class or meditating in your backyard with a
million cups of coffee and your favorite record spinning. Skateboarding
is another way to cross train. This allows me to get some of the feels I’m
missing from surfing while getting an incredible workout on flat land.
Buy yourself a longboard that you can carve and pump as you ride. You’ll
be able to hold the same postures, groove into a steady carving pattern,
and isolate to focus on your form that you use while you’re riding a wave.
Riding on flat roads allows you to work on your consistency, balance, and
muscle memory for the responses your body will make when you pop-up
and ride a wave in the ocean. More ways to cross train: get to the gym for
some weights, play pickleball with Uncle at the Y, take some hikes/runs,
invest in a balance board with a roller, take a Zumba or spin cardio class.
When you can make it back out in the lineup, show up and forgive
yourself for being rusty. Maybe your time away has rejuvenated your
outlook and perspective on reading and taking waves, or has left you
humbled and motivated to progress past where you were when you
started your sidelinin’. We all go through stuff like this, in and out of the
water, and it’s natural and human to be down or depriving yourself of the
things that make you happy or feel like yourself. Work hard on making
yourself happy. Mark it a top priority. Sidelinin’ doesn’t last forever!
SIDELININ’
When you’re stuck on land, behind a desk with a stack of to-dos, or
out with an injury, it feels painful to not get the chance to paddle out on
a beautiful swelly day. For those unable to get back in the water, you’ve
gotta work to combat these feelings of doom and gloom that you would
have otherwise worked out in the ocean already. Personally, it’s vinegar
on my wounds to hear of how “sick” the waves at north end were today,
questions of how much longer it will be til I am back in the lineup, or
pity looks from my salty pals. We all go through periods of time when we
can’t be doing what makes us happy or feeling whole. When it comes
to surfing, maybe you’re missing the ritual of it all, the taste of sandy
wipeouts, the morning fresh first duck dive, or the calmness of being
away from it all… no calls, no emails, nobody’s demands.
A helpful thought to hold onto for me is that everything is temporary in
this life… can’ts, obstacles, moments, routines, expectations. In the time
away from doing things you love to do, find more things that make you
feel alive and whole. Maybe pick up a musical instrument, book a class to