Learning to surf, like navigating academia, requires patience, guidance, and the courage to keep getting back up. Here’s what one session with Blue Dot’s Surf Therapy taught me about resilience and growth.
The Beginning: Setting Intentions
The morning began with a walk along Manly Beach to meet Chris and Gina, who had invited me to experience surf therapy with Jarrad and learn about Blue Dot. Before entering the water, Jarrad, emanating a sense of calm, guided us through breathing exercises to ground ourselves in our bodies. Chris, who always makes you feel like you can achieve anything, invited us to consider what we wanted to learn and asked us to seek nature’s guidance. Gina, who has the energy of a wise elder and the freshest eyes of a muse, invited us to centre ourselves with a practice. As I settled into the moment, my thoughts drifted to my ongoing struggle with publishing a journal paper – a challenge many academics face in their journey.
The Experience: Learning to Trust
Jarrad selected a board for me – larger and wider than what I’d used before. While Chris and Gina ventured into the waves with their own intentions, Jarrad stayed beside me, recognising my novice status. His presence was more than just instructional; he became a guide in the truest sense, offering calm reassurance while teaching me to read the waves, position my feet, and find my balance.
The Challenge: Embracing the Falls
Wave after wave, I tumbled into the water. Yet with each fall, Jarrad remained steady, offering precise adjustments: “Move your foot forward slightly,” “Bend your knees more.” What seemed like an insurmountable challenge – standing and staying on the board – became a metaphor for academic persistence.
The Breakthrough: Finding Flow
Then it happened. After countless attempts, I found myself riding a wave, experiencing that rare moment of complete harmony – body, mind, and spirit aligned with the ocean’s rhythm. It was an enlightening experience that helped me understand why dedicated surfers rise before dawn each day.
Key Learnings from the Ocean
During our closing debrief, several profound insights emerged:
1. Choose Your Tools Wisely
- Just as selecting the correct board is crucial for surfing, choosing appropriate research tools and software can significantly improve academic work.
- Sometimes, we need to try different approaches before finding what works for us.
2. Have a Guide
- Like Jarrad’s calm presence in the water, academic mentors and supervisors play a vital role.
- The importance of remaining open to feedback and direction from those with more experience.
3. Persistence Pays Off
- Each fall is part of the learning process.
- Jarrad’s observation about my persistence reinforced that determination is often the key to success
4. Flow Comes with Practice
- Just as catching a wave requires patience and repeated attempts, academic success rarely comes instantly.
- The journey itself teaches us valuable lessons.
- Writers often talk about not waiting for the muse, just sitting down and writing. You will get better at it if you do.
5. Have Community
- Feeling part of a ‘team’ was important that day.
- Seeing Gina and Chris glance reassuringly through the waves and share a smile when catching a wave was energising, to say the least.
- Also, doing it alone can be scary at times.
The Resolution
My academic paper was eventually accepted, much like finally standing on that surfboard. Whether in research or riding waves, the principles remain the same: choose the right tools, trust your guides, persist through challenges, create your community and celebrate the moments of flow when they come. Thinking about all this now, I realise that the process of being in therapy is also similar.
This experience taught me that sometimes our greatest lessons come not from our successes but from our willingness to repeatedly fall and rise again, whether in the ocean or life.
Love
Andi