I surfed for the hell of it
What tiny desires have you not yet pursued?
Love notes from Siel is a weekly newsletter from Siel, who’s currently traveling around the world. If you love it, subscribe for free.
Dear friend —
Surfing is hard.
I made this unoriginal observation earlier this week on Playa Chacmool in Cancun, where I took my very first surfing lesson ever. Two surfer girls — Camilla and Mariana — helped me haul out onto preternaturally blue waters a surfboard so gigantic I should really call it a raft. The waves kept pummeling us (or more accurately, me) back! But we managed to get out there — at which point the girls showered me with encouragement while I tried to pop up and stand on the board as it skidded across unforgiving waves.
After like 40 minutes, I managed to actually stand on the board — twice! — for about a second each time. Then I begged for a break.
Honestly, the break was my favorite part of the surfing lesson. Sitting on the sand, Camilla started building a little castle with a moat while telling me about her aspirations for her water sports tourism business — surfing, snorkeling, etc. Her goal was to get it all to a place where it would run itself in the next five years, so she could finally start traveling, because despite having surfed all her life, she really hadn’t surfed anywhere except Mexico.
Then Camilla asked: “There’s surfing in California, yes?”
“Yes!” I said.
It was only then that it occurred to me I could have actually taken my first surf lesson anytime during the 20 years I’d lived in Los Angeles. But somehow I’d just never done it.
Why not? I think when I was living in L.A., I thought of surfing not so much as an activity I could try once for the hell of it, but as a skill I needed to commit to learning. I thought if I wanted to surf, I would not only need to find a good school and sign up for a series of lessons but also buy a board and wetsuit and other gear, perhaps even a new car to accommodate all that. Soon enough I would need to make a complete change in lifestyle, maybe moving closer to the beach, maybe waking up at the crack of dawn each day to catch a few waves before heading in to work —
No wonder I didn’t try surfing in L.A. I made it all so hard in my head.
It wasn’t until after I became a nomad and started traveling around aimlessly that surfing became this thing I could just randomly try one morning during the week I happened to be in Cancun.
Traveling, in many ways, takes a lot of pressure and weight off of things. If you’re only in a place a week, a month, a season, you’re never committing to anything for long. You’re not expected to get good, or even better, or anything. You just get to try things for the hell of it. If you look ridiculous, you’ll never see the people who witnessed your humiliation again. If you find you like it, then you can do it again somewhere down the line. If not, well, then you have the story of having tried it once — and you know how not to spend your time in the future.
Of course, there’s no reason this can’t be your attitude even if you live in one place your entire life.
Which brings me to a question: Have you, like me, had a long list — whether in your head or written down — of things you’ve vaguely been interested in trying, things that aren’t actually that hard try once but, for some reason, you just haven’t done them because you’ve made them hard in your head, so you’ve continued your life devoid these desired experiences despite the fact that a small, nagging curiosity has been following you, year after year, maybe even decade after decade?
As for me, I can now finally say I tried surfing. I even went back in the water after that break on the beach, once a wave came in and demolished Camilla’s little castle. Did I find out I loved surfing? No! (another unoriginal observation: Salt water stings when it hits your eyes!) But I had a fun morning nonetheless! And I’m glad I finally, finally, got to try surfing.
Whatever it is you’ve wanted try but just haven’t let yourself yet, I hope you give it a go this year.
Happy 2022 —
Love,
Siel
Three links you might love — new year’s resolutions edition
An argument against setting measurable new year’s resolutions. “We often measure things that are easy to measure … not what we really want to do.”
Or why not just change your entire life. The Guardian profiles people who completely transformed their lives in search of happiness.
Can you really change yourself through resolutions? Not exactly, says Amanda Mull in The Atlantic. “I am who I am, give or take a reasonable capacity for marginal change.”
I tried surfing 🏄♂️ in a simile way in la this summer after living here for 13 years and loved it even though I never got up on the board ;) congrats! Great attitude