Friday, March 4, 2011

Adventure Bowl
Learn How To Surf (But... It's Freezing!!!)


But it's Winter!  I have thin blood!  And I put this Adventure in the Bowl when I lived in perpetually sunny, "freakishly almost 80 degrees every day" L.A.  Now I live in New York City!  In fact, I can't even find a photo of winter surfing to go with this post!  

(Do you see the rampant use of explanation points?!  It's BECAUSE I AM IN DISBELIEF/GIDDY/EXCITED/A LITTLE FREAKED OUT/I THINK THIS WILL BE A LIFETIME MEMORY...SO THAT MIGHT BE AWESOME)

HELP!!!!!!!!!  LOL!

Well, first rule of Adventure Bowl is "no backing out, no excuses" so stay tuned for how I am going to figure out how to take surf lessons in the freezing cold!

What am I getting myself into?!

UPDATE #1  (Friday afternoon)

I found a place to winter surf!  Time to plan the road trip!  

UPDATE #2  (Saturday early afternoon)

So here I am in New England with not only a free place to stay but a friend who will drive me and my pups back to New York City.  I am a lucky, lucky girl.

The only problem is, I am scared, really scared to do this adventure.  Here are some of the things I'm feeling:

1)  Since I fell and broke my shoulder I have no upper body strength.  What if I can't paddle out?  Or pull myself up?  Or carry a board for that matter?

2)  I have this overwhelming need to be good at what I do.  I am not going to be good at this.  It's hard for me to be vulnerable in front of someone I don't know (instructor).  It's hard for me to be patient or easy on myself.

3)  Is this a bad time to mention I have a fear of the ocean?  I have spoken about it in many posts.  I did great with the jet ski adventure but this is different.  I've had to be rescued 3 times that I can remember since I was 19.  And I was trained as a life guard and spent my life, up until then, swimming in the ocean.

4)  Fear, fear, fear.  Lack of control.  And yes, I find this very ironic as I just wrote a post about fear.

Sitting with all this...

*****

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4 comments:

Karen said...

Cannot WAIT to hear this Adventure unfold. I am so excited for you :)

One thing I have noticed about doing things you have been afraid to do is that once you step off that ledge, whole new worlds of possibilities open for you. For instance, did you ever in your life think you would use the words "winter" & "surfing" in the same sentence? Never mind hold them in your mind as a REAL thought?!?!
Wow...

Tiffany said...

Awesome!!! I can't wait to hear all about it! :)
Thank you for alllllll of your posts!! I always need them just as they arrive! :)

dfd said...

I hope this one worked out for you Adventure Grrl. Have been embarking on my own, not-so-constructive cycle of avoidance-anxiety-depression-anxiety-avoidance recently, and find your posts about taking steps to defy the fears very uplifting and inspiring.

adventure grrl said...

Karen, your comment came EXACTLY when I needed it. I can't wait to update this post - I went through such a roller coaster of emotions. Thank you for being there for me!

Tiffany, your comments are always so sweet! They always make me feel like I am not the only one going through... well, what do you call what I'm going through?? The desire to have as much fun in a life that can easily get hum-drum and stale, I suppose!

dfd - Please keep coming back. This part of your comment really touched my heart, "(I) find your posts about taking steps to defy the fears very uplifting and inspiring." Thank you, I needed that!