Dear Surfing,
Before I came to India I already knew that I’m a water person, I knew that I love water, that I enjoy swimming and If there’s Waves even better. What I didn’t know is that water can be the perfect medication for any kind of mental crisis, that when I am overwhelmed all I need is to be in water. Sometimes I woke up in the morning, depressed, overwhelmed and without any Energy to work, to expose myself to the frustration of not being the perfect Teacher or Human that I wanted to be. These Mornings I usually decided to go surfing and no matter of good waves or not, me surfing well or fucking up every single wave, falling again and again, as frustrating as it might be, after being in this huge ocean that doesn’t care about everyday struggles, with waves coming in a rhythm that is incredibly calming to me, I came out of the water smiling and filled with energy. Surfing, you made it possible for me to then come to work with a smile in my face which automatically infects the students and by that made every class much much easier. Thank you Surfing.
Besides helping me with my mental struggles you gave me something else that I did not have since a long long time in my life. Something entirely new, something I could learn from scratch, something I could progress in, something I could put all my energy in. Over this past year my surfing progressed so much, I learned so much, it is incredible.
Thank you surfing.
On top of that you gave me something, other sports in the past years never could. An injury free and still intense training. A (physical) task I could face everyday, without carrying any injuries. While I dislocated my shoulder playing Spikeball or football, which left me sour every damn time, no matter how intense it was and even though I regularily was on my very limits of strength or breath, I never had any pain or injuries after a Surf.
Thank you surfing.
You gave me something I could express myself in and let all my emotions out. Sometimes I want take the longboard and just cruise down every wave to relax, take a break, enjoy and empty my head. Sometimes I want the shortboard and put all my frustration, any emotion or any negative thought into every turn, pushing as hard as possible and see the wave absorbing it completely carefree. And sometimes when I’m flying to high, going to fast, overworking myself or whatever, what helps? A massive Wipeout, taking all your breath away, taking you down to the bottom of the ocean, to the bottom of life where all you need is to calm yourself down, resurface and take a breath.
Thank you Surfing, I love you.
