Posted on September 2, 2011 by Sandra Clifton

I recently spent a week at the beach in North Carolina, one of my favorite places in the world.  Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved the ocean–the smell of the salt, the crash of the tide, the discovery of sea shells. Although I’ve enjoyed many great swims in the Atlantic, I’ve never even considered surfing…until this summer.

The little beach shack we rented had a “boogie board” in the shed, and my dad grabbed it when loading the trunk. One afternoon, when the tide was especially calm, I decided the boogie board would be a good floating device, as the sea felt more like a lake to me. For some reason that day, I joined a few surfers on the other side of the pier, and watched their efforts to catch a little action. It was fascinating-and like an otter, I joined in, emulating their every move.

Now, you can’t really surf on a boogie board, but it can serve as an “amateur introduction” to surfing. After two hours of imitating the pros, one of them looked across the tide at me and asked, “Why don’t you ride the wave?”

The simple answer was,  I didn’t know how. But here’s what I did learn that day:

1.  Passion. If you love something, the investment is worth the time-it was no big deal to spend over two hours in the ocean, just waiting for a good wave. (The guy I met had been out since 6:30am.)

2.  Translation.  A specific “skill set” in one area can offer additional opportunities in another: I had taken swimming lessons all the way through to achieving my life-saving certificate, and realized that this preparation was a solid foundation for learning to surf. I could expand on this original strength and learn a “transferable skill.”

3.  Patience. Sometimes, a little bit of excitement takes a lot of patience, but it’s worth the wait: all of us knew that the ocean offered waves of opportunity, but that day, it meant holding out sometimes for 20-30 minutes between each ride. Although the joy was fleeting, it was also fulfilling. I finally understood why surfers stayed out in their wetsuits past dark.

4.  Vision. Not only can you beat yourself up if you miscalculate the potential curve of an upcoming wave, but you can’t look behind you and watch that opportunity disappear for long-because you might get slammed by an approaching tsunami! Every surfer knows to set their vision ahead, both to catch the next wave, and to avoid get pummeled by it!

5.  Humility.  You’re not surfin‘ til’ you’re standin‘. No matter how strong a swimmer I am, or how great I can imitate others in the water, I was only swimming with a board if I couldn’t stand on it.  But I needed help from a teacher to complete that last step.  At some point in learning a new skill, each of us encounters a missing link in the learning process when we need the perspective of an expert on the outside to develop the right muscles on the inside. Someday, I’d like to take lessons from a pro-because I know that coaching is the key to take the leap from swimming to surfing. But I’m going to have to ask for assistance from an instructor to conquer that final (and most crucial) step.

I learned all this during one day at the shore, but I also gained something more: there is a sea of potential out there… sometimes, it just means that we need to take an extra “tool from the shed” and let it lead us to new discoveries!

Here’s to riding the wave ~ of learning and living!