Life-isms : Surf Lessons, Part III

Tides. Surfers think a lot about tides. Tides are the result that amazing, predictable force of attraction between the earth and the moon that causes the ocean to rise up and attempt to embrace the moon twice a day.

In Tamarindo, the beach is long and sandy with a very shallow drop off into the bay. During low tide, this geographical feature means you can wade out for a long distance and still touch the sandy floor. Basically, it is shallow at low tide. The time it takes the moon to travel around the earth is not exactly synced with time the earth rotates around its own axis. Among other things, this mismatch provides us moon phases and a slight shift each day in when high tide occurs. This shift is about 50 minutes. So, what the heck does all this matter to my story about life-isms and surf lessons?

Patience. Patience is what it has to do with my story. So, hold on to that thought and exercise a bit of patience

It just so happens that the best surf at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp occurs two hours before and after high tide with the falling tide (time after high tide) being preferred over the rising tide. Had I been more cognizant of the importance of the tides to the quality of surf, I might have planned our trip to Tamarindo to match times of high tides around the time of day we would like to be taking a lesson. When we arrived in Tamarindo, high tide was around noon and midnight and by the time we left, it had shifted to about 6pm and 6am. This meant our surfing lessons occurred around noon on our first day, progressed to late afternoon then switched to 6am by our last day.

It may sound like a wonderful vacation tactic to get to sleep in and do my surf lessons in the afternoon. I would be well-rested. I would have time to digest some nourishment. And while I sit lingering over my breakfast and coffee, I would patiently watch the waves. Patiently watch others surf. Patiently review lessons from the previous day. Patiently practice technique. Patiently stay on land.

I did all that and then, the patience ran out. Certainly, a little practice to enforce my lessons was a good idea. Certainly, practice makes perfect and I would be all the better at my lesson if I practiced. Certainly, hard work pays off, it always does. Next thing I knew, I’d donned my rash guard and was grabbing a freshly waxed board from the rack. My lesson was still three hours away. I had plenty of time to catch a few waves, rest up, grab a quick energy snack and be 100% revived before my instructor was ready for me.

Forget the fact that I was wrecked after yesterday’s lesson. Forget the fact I was still feeling the effects from said lesson. Forget the fact I’ve not yet learned to properly catch a wave. More accurately, with a wave catching success rate hovering at about 10%, catching a few waves still required 20 attempts. Forget all this, I was going to practice. I was going to get better. I was going to work hard and it was going to pay off.

Clearly, this attitude is a carry over from my past life. Really, from my whole life. I have been. . . neigh. . . I am every kind of over-achiever, Type A, competitive, put your nose to the grindstone type of person there is. What I have lacked in natural talent whether it be intellectually or physically, I made up for in grinding it out. I could ignore the fatigue. I could ignore my body telling me I need a break, a rest and a leave . I could mentally shut down and ignore the feelings of being overwhelmed, helpless and out of control. I could do all that while telling myself it is worth, it will pay off and I will win. Mind over matter. True grit.

And where does this usually lead? Sure, this laser-focused drive to achieve has gotten me a lot. I am not going to lie, my Masters degree from MIT was probably more a product of raw determination than pure intelligence and intellectual instinct. I’ve also had a reputation of completing, on-time, some of the hardest projects with the most unimaginably difficult deadlines. Yet, I would accomplish this with disgruntled teams, disenfranchised managers while willing and zealously sacrificing my own personal well-being. Sleepless nights, skipping workouts, canceling plans, missing out on the fun while working or, even worse, ruminating and worrying culminated in the burnout that lead me to drastically rethink what I was doing with my life. It also lead me on a trip to a Costa Rican beach to learn to surf. This was a symbolic trip to let go of those old driving habits that lead to burnout in the first place.

And now, here I was, doing it again. I was applying all that drive, all that determination, all that need to achieve to a leisure activity. Really, think about how silly what I was doing is. Was I going to accomplish the “Project of Surfing”? Would I win against the ocean? Did I need to prove something to me, the class, my instructor, the camp? Was I hoping to be magna cum laude of surf camp?

Patience. It is SURF CAMP. Have fun.

Fast forward three hours later. I spent more than two of them attempting to catch ways, frequently missing and ending up in the crush zone. That is the zone where the waves break and it requires a lot of energy to overcome the whitewater – well, it requires a lot of energy for the newbie. I arrived at my lesson not revived and energetic, but rather like I’d spent two hours in salt water and surf. What I lacked in energy, I tried to make up for in enthusiasm. I was here to learn to surf and I was excited! Clearly, that would work. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm did not translate a strong paddle and catch. It did not make for a fast, decisive pop up. It did not improve my physical coordination. It did not impress my instructor.

As I left the water, he firmly said “Don’t surf before our lesson tomorrow, I want you fresh.” When I tried to protest, he stopped me in my tracks with “I want you to get the most out of your lesson.” He was right, no point to argue further. I paid money for his time. I was here for his lessons. I was here to have fun. I was not here to win. I was not here to wear myself out trying too hard. I surfed on day one, the rest was icing.

What do I want to prove for the next 50ish years I will grace the face of this planet? What do I have to prove to myself? Do I want to be magna cum laude of life? In the grander scheme of things, I have accomplished a lot. I am glad I am figuring that out at 38 rather than 68. The rest is icing.

Patience. It is LIFE. Have fun.

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Check out Part I, Part II and Part IV of the “Life-isms : Surf Lessons” series (they don’t even have to be read in order!) and see the related post on Witch’s Rock Surf Camp’s Website.