The Surfer's Secret to Happiness
The Surfer's Secret to Happiness
"They don’t seem to regret all that time they don’t spend actually riding waves."
Surfer: @kalei.fukuda
A while back a visitor from the mainland stopped into Hawaiian South Shore and told me about an article called “The Surfer’s Secret to Happiness.” I eventually ended up finding the article, in “The New York Times,” and thought that it was pretty cool. It talks about how, as surfers, we only spend the smallest fraction of our time standing up on our boards and actually “surfing,” but how, despite the fact that most of our time is spent paddling, floating in the water, sitting at work daydreaming about waves, or eating breakfast before paddling out, we never stop being surfers the entire time.
The author was struggling with reactive arthritis when she discovered this about surfing, and found herself incapacitated. Unable to walk, she was also unable to pursue certain goals for a while, such as becoming a nurse.
She eventually recovered from her disability, but in the process had learned from her observation of surfers that if people can learn to have that surfing attitude about everything in life—being happy with our pursuit during that majority of the time when we aren’t being successful or doing the thing that we intend to do—maybe we will be able to find true contentment, no matter what our situation is.
I did some research on the author of the article, and sadly discovered that she passed away this year. But the message of her article still rings true, and I think it’s a pretty good one for us to think about. I invite you all to search for the article online on The New York Times site—hopefully it will inspire you as much as it inspired me! And as always, you are also invited to stop into the shop anytime you feel like chatting about surf, waves, or life in general!
For you, as a Surfer, what makes you HAPPY?
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