What’s Your Relationship to the Waves?

It’s fair to assume that if you go out onto the ocean you will, at some point, experience waves.

Waves are a feature of the ocean.

Surfing vs Stand-Up Paddleboarding

Depending on whether you’re on a surfboard or a stand-up paddle board, the waves create two vastly different experiences.

If you’re on a surfboard, you’re in heaven. This is what you came for. The bigger the better.

If you’re on a stand-up paddle board, you may be aggravated and frustrated by the waves, perhaps feeling like they’re knocking you around. If a big wave comes you’ll likely go down.

You typically don’t see surfers near SUPers, for good reason.

The Difference in Relationship

In each case, you’re on a board in the ocean.

The difference is in your relationship to the waves: how you respond or react to them, in their presence and in their absence.

When the waves roll in, do you welcome them or resist them?

What do you do in the absence of the waves? Do you celebrate, thinking that you’ve got a respite? Do you bemoan or resist the stillness?

Riding a standup paddle board (or even a boat), can often feel like a tug of war between emotional states. One moment you’re smooth sailing, and the next you’re getting tossed around by the waves.

The surfer cannot accomplish his objective without the waves.

But here’s the thing: I’ve never seen a surfer in resistance to the stillness.

When the ocean is still, the surfer waits patiently on her surfboard, harnessing energy for the inevitable return of the waves.

The surfer trusts that the waves will come eventually. Because that’s how the ocean works.

The art of surfing is accepting what is: learning the art of patience and how to ride the waves when they come.

What’s Your Relationship With the Waves?

On the ocean, and in life, what’s your relationship with the waves?

Are you a surfer or a stand-up paddle boarder?

Or are you simply watching the waves from the shore?