An ongoing exploration of surfing’s joys.
The joy of surfing 03
This ongoing series explores the things that make surfing so enjoyable.
Maybe it’s just part of growing up but when did everyone become so busy? Busyness has become the new normal and it’s exhausting. ‘How you going?’ has been replaced with ‘You busy?’ The implication being that busy is good. Finding downtime is becoming harder, rarer and more valuable than ever.
Remember being bored? What ever happened to boredom? As a kid, it was probably the biggest catalyst for our imaginations. ‘Go outside and play until lunch.’ No TV, no computer just sticks turning into harmless guns, trees becoming cubbies, an infinite number of wild adventures conjured out of necessity and downtime. Now, whenever we have a moment between rushing here or there, we reach down and grab our phones. It’s impossible to be bored when you have a supercomputer in your pocket. And binge scrolling through short videos of strangers dancing doesn’t cure our busyness but it does make us forget about it. It’s like our thumbs are a kill switch for overthinking.
“Shades of fear give the surfing experience texture and substance. Just like shadows give a photograph depth and yoghurt gives curry an added dimension, the fears whispering in our ears make the fun bits even better”
And it makes sense – who doesn’t want a break, an escape – even a distraction from our busyness and the stress of living in this dystopian future? Between Trump, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Scomo hangover, and watching hopelessly as the planet is killed by greedy capitalism, filling the void with a quick flick before despair takes hold seems like a pretty great option. But the antidote to busyness isn’t keeping our minds preoccupied, it’s stillness.
It’s amazing how often the answer to busyness is simply sitting and staring at the horizon. Even better if you’re in the sea. How amazing that you’ve set up a life for yourself where you’re able to wander down a beach, paddle out into the sea and float for a while. A moment of aloneness and stillness doesn’t make your problems go away but just as boredom stoked your creativity as a kid, stillness stokes calmness and creates space to step back from your busyness and recognise the good bits of your life.
