
I’ve started to make decisions that I’ve needed to make for quite some time now.
They’ve been sitting in the background and I’ve stalled and stalled on going forward with them because I knew they were going to be challenging and take a lot of effort.
But lately, one by one, I’ve committed to them and I’m watching things unfold.
My body needs a break from lifting. I don’t actually think I’ve ever given it much of a break. Even during the “weeks off” I had in Italy which was a first in a years, I wasn’t really taking time off from lifting. I was doing band work, running hard, and then found a gym in my final week and a half there.
Mentally, I need to step away from that for a while.
Being in the water surfing is going to teach me a whole new world.
A world of fluidity. A world about going with things instead of resisting them.
You may think that sounds peculiar, but really when you spend so much time in the gym learning “resistance training” that shows up in other aspects of your life. You try to power through things. Hell, even the mentality that I was brought up with as an athlete taught me that. You’re going to be in pain…keep going.

In some ways, I think that’s not the worst thing in the world. I think we are much more capable than we imagine. But when you are really getting the sense that you need to slow down a bit, you have to slow down.
I need to take some time off.
I need to regroup and recharge for a while. I think with me there’s an inherent fear that everything will just completely fall apart if I stop.
Well…that’s really not true at all.
I will come back better, rested, and stronger. When I bounce over to Portugal, I’m going to give myself that time.
That time to completely disconnect and just go have fun for a bit. I need that break. I need that time to just veg. out.
There’s going to be something about getting up on a wave and feeling it push underneath me. I can’t wait. I can’t wait for that moment I catch my first barrel. I’ve heard that being “in the green room” is one of the most incredible experiences you will ever have.
There are good things coming up around the bend.
I’m ready for them.
Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project