Ride the waves you get

We've all spent hours dreaming about
great waves.  We've read about some of the
worlds best places to surf, stared at photos and
movies of those epic waves.  You know
the names, Sunset, Pipe, Cloudbreak, J-Bay,
Malibu, Honolua Bay, Uluwatu, etc etc, the list
goes on and on. If you've been lucky enough you
may have even surfed a few of these places,
scored once or twice.  Admit it though, most of
the time you surf your local breaks. Most of the
time we all surf lesser waves.

I'm not putting down your or my own local
break. Each has its day. Each can be pretty damn
good…sometimes…under the ideal conditions…
with the right angle, the right wind…with the right
tide.  But most of the time, most of the waves we
all surf are the waves we get, not exactly the waves
we want. Not the ones we dream of.
It's rarely perfect but we all make the best
of what we've got.  We all figure out how to enjoy
and even become grateful for whatever we get.
How many times have you heard someone say
"at least it's surfable" It was better then it looked.
I had fun anyway…at least I got wet."?

In life we'd all do well to take that attitude more often.
Sure, there are some dealing with jobs they don't
like, in relationships that aren't perfect.  Pleanty of
folks look at the results of the last election and are
unhappy.  We'd all be well served to ride the waves
we get rather then be pissed off that we didn't get
what we dreamed of, that it wasn't perfect.  We all
know that there are only a few things we can do. We
may not be able to control the surf but we can make the best
of it. Learn how to deal with the conditions we have, adapt.
We don't give up being who we are. We don't stop doing
what we can to make things improve,   Learn to ride
slop if that's what you get, try to be a better tube rider if
you are in a place that's barrel filled, deal with the fear of big
waves if that's the norm.  Control what you can, take
action to make things better. That's all you can do.

Learn to ride the waves you've been given because
we often don't get the waves we want. Not getting
what you want is no reason to give up surfing, to
loose your stoke, to stop checking, to be filled
with negative energy.  Who wants to be around the
surfer who checks it daily only to say "it sucks" and
who never gets wet?  Not me for sure.