As the reality of 2020 set in at the height of quarantine, I had this fantastic idea to relive the goals of my youth and begin surfing. It seemed the only option as the overall connection with peers and quality of life as a 30 year old millenial continued to decline. The ocean has always been inspiring. The depth, the unknown, the thriving eco-system and wildlife ( when we do not dispose of plastic bags in the majestic abyss, that it). The ocean can sometimes be the only constant a coastal dweller witnesses some days. Regardless of events in the land of humanity, the tides adheres to it’s nature: it comes in and goes out. Changing daily with some poetic tenacity that many have struggled to describe in all areas of creative arts.

To understand the nature of the ocean is to witness a miracle that has stood centuries of turmoil. Want to learn what it means to feel powerless, go to the ocean. Want to quiet the mind? Seek the crashing waves that decorate the seascape with a graceful power capable of shifting continents. The individual wave, plays its role in this symphony of chaos and if a person is aware and/ or lucky enough they can experience of catching a wave if you win it’s favor.

If were are to understand, the depths of the human soul and the true range of emotionality we as humans experience, the ocean is a significant metaphor. Many of us are taught that our emotions are “too much” from childhood. But like the waves crashing on the shore our emotions are imperative to our subjective eco system. In the times were are in, we need to feel the good, embrace the bad, and remember that just like dropping into the wave there can be a moment of sheer terror we face in emotional struggles where it is mandatory to relinquish the illusion of control, and have faith that the wave will take care of us. Physically in the ocean, holding fast it, the process will allow you to connect directly to the majestic nirvana that many “bros” chase daily for the rest of their lives. If we hold fast to the emotions that arise like a “wave” within, the nirvana we reach is the self nurturing that was so often denied to us in the past due to others being uncomfortable their own emotional spectrum, thus telling us how to “feel.”

The moral at it’s basic foundation comes to this: life, love, the world is overwhelmed with gray noise. Constantly telling us who we are. Just like surfing, the wave is going to break inevitably, it is the role that it plays in the narrative of mother nature. However, our awareness and desire to surrender (not give up, but allow the balance) is the crucial tipping point that leads to a beautiful drop into a barrel (think Kelly Slater) or holding back and watching the majestic chaos to live life thinking what if.

In the year 2020, there is no kinda sorta surfing. There is white caps, rip currents and high winds. Emotions are these elements in our soul. Who’s to say we are not allowed to embrace happiness and nirvana by taking the white cap head and having faith in ourselves as well as the balance that we will continue to rise after the wipe out. To embrace to storm is to embrace ourselves, we need to remember regardless of the circumstances we are worth our own happiness despite the ugliness.

Surf’s up……Always……