Sure, you might not make it. But you definitely won’t make it if you wait around. Photo: Jose V. Glez.
You can’t put death off until tomorrow, yet you may find yourself procrastinating in the line up. It’s a set that is bigger than the rest, or it could be the last in a growing swell. It could be the first of a new swell that you have to get used to. It could be the set that gets the cars on the cliff spewing greedy wave hogs into the line up. It could be the set that gives you the best wave of your life. Or it could be the one that kills you.
You could leave this set. You could watch it explode on the reef and feel the fear rise in your guts as each wave jacks up and explodes, mocking your indecisiveness. You could have decided already that you will let this one go. You could half-heartedly try to catch one. You could paddle with all your strength, but you leave your heart at the shoulder, your head on the beach.
You don’t have time to think about these things, and yet you have all the time in the world. You have only one opportunity at each wave, and yet you have the rest of your life. Each wave will bring a new sense of reality and a change to your life. Each wave will change your life. Each wave will set you on a different path than the one you have already chosen or a slight variation of it.
But if you leave one and choose to wait, your life will not stay the same. You will not have that opportunity again. You may learn a bit more about what each wave can do. You may see the opportunities with every wave. You may imagine yourself in each, pushing yourself to a different destiny that only seconds before was inconceivable. Your head could be filled with the possibilities of glory, achievement, a story to tell, or a wave that changed your life.
You could, however, imagine the consequences of taking off a little late, a little early, a little too deep. You don’t feel like you are at one with your board. You could picture the suck rock down the line that will interrupt your ride on this wave. You see your head crushed, your leg rope broken, your pride damaged, your fear as you pull out.
You could imagine your death.
Jesus H Christ!
You know the feeling. There is no room for procrastination in the line up. The waves have come from far away. They have met you in the here and now, and there is only one opportunity for each. This is given to you. It’s a gift. Each one is a gift. You can give them to someone else, you can take one for yourself. But you have to let go of anything holding you back.
You have to let go before you take each new wave.
Life.
Every cliché ever written gets inserted here.
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