I surfed 5 days last week, and I’m fucking ecstatic about it. I’m on track for another 5 days this week. I haven’t been this stoked on surfing since I quit the baseball team to join the surf class during my sophomore year.
I recently had a bit of a hiatus from surfing. A 113 day interlude, to be exact. I believe this was the longest period of time that I have spent not standing up on a wave since I began this whole adventure. This aperture did not come naturally; this wasn’t an injury, or a sickness like our brother Mick described here. I was out of the water all on my own behalf. Some days I was hungover. Other days I would get stoned and not have the motivation to go. There were countless mornings I would look at the cameras, agree in my own head the waves looked fun, and make a conscious decision just not to go. The fire was not there for me.
Now though, the flame has been rekindled, my friends. Sparked up. I feel like a young boy after his first kiss. The past few days at home, I’m not sure if my feet ever touched the sand on my way down to the water. I am floating. The ocean has welcomed me back like the neighborhood barber.
The timing is impeccable as well. My best friend just returned from serving our beautiful country overseas, and he’s already back lighting up the lineup. He is still the same surfer he used to be, but a bit better, and he’s got a renewed sense of style. I do have to admit; I was a bit embarrassed when he came back from about 6 months of being landlocked, and about a year of surfing Florida, to show up and still be better than me right off the bat. Damnit. I’ll get ’em soon.
During my time out, I would convince myself that it was okay for me to not be surfing. It’s totally fine to separate yourself from something you love from time to time. Get some space so you can appreciate that thing a bit more. Looking back now, I see that there is probably some truth to that. However, when I was in the midst of this madness, there were some dark days indeed. I went through all kinds of emotions, mostly negative. Depressed, angry, lonely, annoyed, all of that shit. I hated it. I was drinking way too much, out of shape, high all day, lazy, and bitter. Not to say that all of this stemmed from me being out of the water, but I do believe that I would have been in better spirits both mentally and physically if I had at least gotten in a paddle once a month.
Today though folks, we raise a glass to a new man. – Yes, I am still drinking beer. It’s under control. I have some projects coming soon. I’m going to bring you all some clips of my guy mentioned above. That will be soon. Thank you for tuning in.
-hwilsin