Do you ever lose your mojo?
Don’t worry it happens.
You will fall out of love with everything at some point.
Thankfully falling out of love with surfing isn’t as traumatic as it is to fall out of love with your partner, job, town or friends.
This is something that can be recovered.
Surfing doesn’t nag you, or give you impossible deadlines, it’s not out your window reminding you of what once you dug you now don’t, it doesn’t ignore you and find its phone more interesting when you’ve made precious time to hang together.
The reasons can be many and varied. Not enough time. Life getting in the way. The pressures of work, family and friends. Long spells of shonky conditions can do it. Then there’s geography. Being an inlander is a huge commitment, not just financially, to commit to being a surfer when you don’t live near the coast is one of the bravest things you can do.
It’s like a long distant relationship. Except all the effort is one way traffic. The ocean doesn’t return your calls or like your social updates. It just sits there brooding. That’s what the Atlantic likes to do. That’s how it rolls. It’s fine with you loving it and it’s wave based favours. But it couldn’t give an arse in return. There will never be a damp, ‘You okay hon?’
Even if you live near the ocean and have the time to get in frequently it can still happen. It’s too crowded. Your boards are just not working out. The banks are poop. You’ve hit a performance plateau that you can’t traipse out of…
Whatever the reason you find yourself not looking at the charts and forecasts every day. You start agreeing to plans at the weekends without the characteristic ‘Errrm, I’ll let you know’ that the truly in love always drop so they can ensure it really will be surf free at the weekend before committing. You find yourself not checking the waves for a few days. It becomes weeks. Then before you know it you’ve not been in the sea for months and the paddling muscles are done for.
Next time your idly thumbing through some mind rot on your phone and wasting vital minutes on this good earth maybe think about that. You could be in the ocean. You could be dancing with Mama Nature. Caressing the damp curves of the Atlantic in the frankly mind baffling act of standing on a wave. You could be keeping fit in body and mind in the best way possible. Exercise without mindless repetition. Precious time away from those infernal screens that dog our existence. Mainlining nature. All while doing the funnest thing you can do by yourself.
No matter what your love for surfing will always be there. Like any relationship you’ve got to embrace it. Get involved. Try. You can’t just cruise and hope everything will be okay. Without work any love will wither and die.
Even if it’s been years the embers are still there. Fan the flames. Let that love burn bright. Get in the flipping sea and remind yourself why you love surfing. That mojo is right there waiting for you…
Words & Photos Sharpy
Caption: Stan Norman is 100% stocked with mojo, froth and everything else an ubergrom should be.
This is the editorial from the current issue. In stores now.
