Zachary invited me to trade blog posts. He suggested a blog post title — “What Bodysurfing Taught Me About Life Away From The Water” — for me, and I did the same for him. I suggested How Travel Is An Engine For Writing. This was inspired by Let’s trade blogposts! by Kami.

Social Media Tells Partial Truths

People think I go in the ocean every day. I try to post something to the web every time I go in the ocean.

I do that so much that people who see my posts in Instagram, or on this blog, think I go in the ocean every day. During the pandemic I decided to post each and every time I went swimming. That started at YMCA pools, and then expanded to trips to the beach.

I swim; I post.

I bodysurf; I post.

But it’s not every day.

It’s more like 1 in 3 days a week.

That misimpression people have has taught me that “social media is not real life.”

What we amplify to others is telling a story that takes root in the minds of the people to whom we tell that story.

Be where you are

Waves are crashing on beaches every few seconds. As you’ve been reading this dozens of waves have crashed at my current-favorite break: Ocean Beach in San Diego.

Each wave was a chance for a really great; really fun; really incredible ride.

I am missing each one.

I could view this as a failure–after all, I want to ride more waves, and I want to get better at riding waves.

I am missing out on those waves.

But I am not in the ocean. I am typing on a keyboard. I am writing a blog post.

It does no good to, say, beat myself up for what I’m not doing.

Rather, I am focused on what I am doing. and there’s a real value in that.

Pay attention

In the water, riding a wave depends on timing. Every wave is a bit different. Every wave is a dynamic moving physical shape defined by the intersection of water, wind, sand, rock, swell, weather, temperature, pressure, the shape of the shoreline.

I can’t know how each wave will break.

There are places in the world, famously Pipeline in Hawaii, that break predictably, and even they are not 100% predictable.

So a person who wants to ride a wave has to watch each wave. It’s a calculus problem in motion. And to ride it I must pay 100% attention.

If I don’t I will not ride it. I might get hurt. I might run into another person in the water.

I need to be “heads up.” That lesson applies everywhere. If I am not paying attention, I will miss what’s good, and I’ll miss what might harm me.

There’s another chance

This lesson is one I already knew. I’m in my fifties now, and I have been lucky enough to get new chances on many fronts. Relationships, jobs, moves. And I get a second chance.

And waveriding teaches that lesson too. There’s always another wave. Another session in the water.

And so, I keep going.

If you’re interested in trading blog posts with me, please do reach out. I’m around.