Surfing and Balance

I straddled my blue longboard and the warm sea moved gently, rocking me like a baby in a cradle. I watched the unending horizon where the sun burned white-yellow.

A wave rolled through, thick and slow, the high tide mellowing the pitch and speed. I stroked a few times, feeling the slow and patient seduction of the wave’s inertia. I jumped to my feet, gauging where I should stand, how much force I should apply to the rails of the board, and if I should stick my hand in the wall of water to my right. I glided down the face of the wave. Too much weight on one side of the surfboard, a mind distracted, feet placed in the wrong position, stiff knees, or the upper body not intuiting the angles and the ride would end in a wipeout.  In many ways, surfing is about balance.

Surfing is full of apt metaphors for life. Not least among them is balance. Quite possibly, in our frenzied and over-worked culture where “busy” has become a virtue, balance may well become synonymous with emotional and spiritual survival, if not physical survival. Anytime a person, organization, or nation finds its self-worth in the shadow of addiction to activity, disaster is not far behind.

Busyness is often spoken of with a certain amount of pride. In many ways, busyness has become an asset to showcase, like courage was to the ancient Greeks. Busyness seems to increase one’s net worth in the eyes of peers. But busyness, while good for image, can be detrimental to the spirit of a person, family, business, and country.

There must be balance. Without balance we wipeout. Without balance, it’s just a matter of time until we fall off our boards. To believe the cultural narrative that more and more activity is virtuous is self-deception. At a certain point, more activity or more work equals less life, not more life. At a certain point, busyness becomes vice.

There are times and exceptions when all of us must push ourselves, take on extra commitments or pull longer hours at the office. This is called being a responsible adult. But when busyness becomes a value that makes us feel self-important, we can be sure that we have swallowed a cultural opiate.

 In as much as balance is key to surfing, balance is equally key to living the good life. 

Whether we are stay-at-home mothers or fathers, working professionals, or retired and living on a golf course, balance between activity and rest-play should be a priority. If balance is not a priority than I can promise you this: life will force balance. And when life forces balance then you will find yourself swimming in the ocean rather than surfing the wave you hoped to ride.