She’s been calling me. The ocean has been whispering my name.
When I think back to it, my love affair with the ocean started when I was very very young playing in the warm waters of Kauai until I had to come inside to eat. I wanted to be out there all day playing in the water and riding the waves.
A few years ago when I was thinking about making transitions, I was thinking about moving down to San Diego and taking up surfing as part of something that would help me develop as a man. I had been working on bringing fluidity into my life for quite some time and there’s no better practice in the world than surfing for that.
I ended up not moving to San Diego, but rather packed everything up and took to the streets of Europe over the past couple of months in Barcelona and Florence…and yet those whispers came back as I looked to my next location – Portugal.
And what did I discover?
Portugal is not only beautiful, but boasts some of the best and most consistent waves in the world.
So as I thought about the months coming ahead – especially in making a decision of traveling throughout Portugal surfing vs. braving a northern Europe winter – I decided to follow my instincts in surf every single day, wait for the snow to melt, and then continue on my journey.
But why the change?
Intuition.
There have been aspects about this trip that have rocked me (in very good ways). But rocked nonetheless. As much as I love Barcelona, I was reminded of the inner city feel of downtown Los Angles and knew that it wasn’t the place for me to be.
I belong in the ocean. I belong in the mountains. I belong wandering off the beaten path and into the woods. That’s where my heart has always been and that’s where it needs to be. I’ve never been one for the party scene or going out and getting wasted till 6am.
That’s never been me.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m an 80yr old man at heart and love doing different things – spending time with people wandering, exploring, adventuring, and learning as much about them as I possibly can. It’s not real easy to do things like that when you’re yelling over a loud bass in a club full of flashing lights getting lit.
But I digress.
Intuition tells me that doing this is going to lead me down a path that is going to change my life.
It’s hard to explain, but after I lost baseball, I lost contact with something that was really really important to me. I lost contact with a feeling – this intense focus and emotion surrounding being in the zone. The world closed off. Everything turned black around me except for what I was focusing on. This drive came from within – very hard to explain – and everything just turned into slow motion.
I don’t know how to really explain this, but I know that this is going to come back into my life when I first start getting up on a wave.
So that’s what I’m going to go do. I’m going to do that because it feels right.
I’m going to do that because I know it’s good for me.
So as the weeks close in Barcelona and I continue moving forward with my dreams and visions, I know that what’s right around the bend is going to be beautiful.
Off we go.
Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project