04 "You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf—my journey of learning to surrender."

It’s funny how we sometimes create this picture-perfect scenario of how something is supposed to turn out. I think some of it is due to social media, as it creates an unrealistic picture. Most of the time, we only see the highlight reel, and even if someone shares some of the sweat and tears behind the scenes - it’s still shown within a few seconds in the video with inspirational music in the background, so it doesn’t show the audience the full depth

of the battle. I must sound like the biggest hypocrite since I’m literally using a social media platform to write this post. I’m rambling on about something, and you have no idea what I’m talking about. So, let me take you behind the scenes of my story.

Vicus and I are leaving for Sumatra in a couple of days. When we planned this trip, I thought that with enough planning and work, everything would be okay, and of course, there would be a few challenges along the road, but there was nothing that we couldn’t handle together.

One of my biggest hurdles during the preparation period has been my need to control everything. Want to know the irony behind this statement? My one-word mantra and theme that I chose as we rang into the new year was “SURRENDER”!

Trying to organize my Pilates studio classes making sure that all my clients are happy with the arrangements and class times, and bending over backward to try and accommodate every need, I realized that I was falling into my default setting of trying to control every outcome. Of course, there is a measure of control and work that needs to be put in, but then, after you’ve done the work, there is that moment when you have to sit back and say: “I’ve done everything I can.”

The same has happened with the preparation for Sumatra. We made a list of things we would like to do there to help and serve the local community. I thought there would be a clear-cut to-do list and packing list of things that we would have to take with us, but I have also realized that a big part of this journey I will have to put down my to-do list to be able to see and be open to the people, the need and the possibilities around me.

I’m a Pinterest addict, and I stumbled across this quote by Jon Kabat-Zinn: “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” It’s the perfect quote to describe surrender. Surrender isn’t about giving up, but just like surfing, you can learn how to go with the push and pull of the ocean and learn when you should take a wave and when you should wait for the next set to come in.