“For whatever we lose (a you or a me)
It’s always ourselves we find in the sea.”
e.e.cummings
The ocean is a powerful force that cannot be tamed, and even the bravest humans have learnt to respect its liquid fists. The very best have discovered a way to channel that blue energy instead of fighting it, giving in to the flow and letting the cresting waves lead the dance.
Chris Bertish, one of the world’s handful of big wave surfers (these waves are mini-tsunamis), has just released his biography, entitled Stoked. Surfer jargon for damn happy, it epitomises Chris’s passionate attitude to life.
Chris Bertish surfing his heart out
I was expecting a thrilling read about his career and the ocean which my dolphin heart adores, but I wasn’t prepared for the wisdom he traced in beautiful lines of ink. I didn’t anticipate the metaphors looping around the intensity of depression and the surprising ways we can learn to master it and use its energy, instead of fighting it. Because, just like the ocean, it will kick our asses if we try, almost every time.
