The best are like water,
bringing help to all without competing.
Choosing what others avoid,
they thus approach the Tao.
—The Tao Te Ching - Verse 8
Yesterday, I did a thing: I bought a surfboard.
I just bought one. (Used, of course, I’m not a madman). It didn’t even occur to me until afterward that maybe I should rent one first, or take a lesson to see if I might like it. Those thoughts didn’t sink in until after the surfboard was running the length of my SUV, partially blocking my view out the window on the way to the beach. I didn’t even check to see if it was high tide.
It wasn’t. But I went in and fumbled around like a fool for a while anyway (after the lifeguard blew his whistle at me, shooing me off to the other side of the pier to “surf” the nonexistent waves in the designated area. How embarrassing). It felt a bit like wrestling an alligator. As far as I know, wrestling alligators isn’t a prerequisite for surfing, but as someone who’s never taken lessons, don’t take my word for it.
I felt even more foolish floundering around on a surfboard at low tide in front of a bunch of random people. I kept wondering, What is everyone thinking about me right now? Then I realized they weren’t, nobody was. And if they were, it was probably something along the lines of, Huh. There’s a guy with a surfboard. Or even if they were thinking, Look at that idiot floundering about on a surfboard at low tide, who cares. The timing in life for impulsively floundering around on a surfboard at low tide just felt right, ya know? The timing didn’t feel so right when I was living in Colorado, ya know? Then people would’ve been justified in thinking, What is this idiot doing floundering about on a surfboard? Ya know?
After that, I felt a little less foolish. I felt a little more like a random guy at the beach struggling on a surfboard because that’s where us random guys with surfboards go. To the beach. To struggle. To fight the good fight. To commit ourselves to impulse buys that should’ve been rentals. To choose failing in front of strangers like others might avoid. To willingly drip down toward the lowest of places. To approach the Tao with the yielding nature of water. Ya know?