TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JUNE 2019 11
By Allie Hayser
Happy Summer Y’all! As the island starts getting packed out with seasonal
explorers, traffic, tourists, and family visiting, it’s important to take time to
get your mind right and do things to make yourself happy. For us below
sea level out here, the best place where you can reset and feel like yourself
again is getting into the ocean. The island will be bustling with live music,
random festivals, construction, packed-out restaurants, beachgoers, and
golf carts. Surfing is such a healthy, free, and fun way to get your mind
right and allow yourself to feel challenged and happy. Also, as I find with
activities that challenge you physically and mentally, you can apply these
thought processes that you encounter along the way to your land-life’s
daily routines...
Be kind to yourself. Not every single bathing suit is going to fit like it
used to, stay on when you wipe out, or make you feel good. You won’t
feel comfortable in every surf session and in every lineup. You may have
thought that you tackled that issue that was keeping you from catching
waves. Whatever it may be… be kind to yourself. Have a little extra
courage on those days to have the confidence to get out there and throw
yourself at it. Think about how many things you are doing right for yourself
in that moment. If you’ve been out of the water for months, forgive yourself
for it, be rusty as nails, and keep pushing. By having a more positive and
kind mindset towards ourselves, we can do things we thought we couldn’t
ever do.
Don’t take your surfing so seriously. Truth is, you aren’t going to be
the next Kelly Slater or Kassia Meador overnight... or in two summers
and a hurricane season... you just won’t be. That shouldn’t suck any of
the meaning and fun out of your surfing or make you feel any less of a
surfer. The “best surfers” that I’ve met are the ones that value their own
“expression” and “style” without comparing themselves to others. Enjoy
every ride (and wipeout). Be present. We don’t have time to do the things
that we love and that make us happy every single day… so ease up, realize
where you are, what you are able to do, and be there!
Surrender to the flow. The most expansive, impressive, unpredictable,
wild, and uncontrollable force there is... the ocean! You may hit the gym
7 days a week, read surf reports like the news, watch and take notes
on different waves and surfers, but you will never be able to master and
control the ocean and its ever-changing conditions. Not many places in our
lives exist anymore where we can find comfort and growth in surrendering
complete control. It’s humbling to hit sand when you least expect it, or get
caught in the inside ducking under 10 choppy messy waves in a row. When
life gets hectic and intense, you can paddle out to feel something more
powerful than yourself. Surrender to the fact that you aren’t going to be
able to make that call back right now, there’s rats in your apartment, and
your meter is out of time… all of those things are so small in the grand
scheme of it all. Be thankful to have a place that challenges and humbles
you. In times where you must work with whatever waves are coming in,
you’ll learn even more fundamentals and milestones from handling and
enjoying them along the way.
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