{"id":38761,"title":"LOTUS LIFE - Blue Journey","description":"How waves changed my life","content":"

I started surfing in the summer of 2020, and it has transformed my life.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>

As a mother of two young children I was seeking a release from the daily rituals of nurturing and home making, particularly after the restrictions of COVID. Midsummer approached and the long light evenings demanded to be worshipped. The clear aquamarine sea around St Ives beckoned\u2026<\/p>

A friend to whom I owe an endless debt of gratitude gave me a beat up old foamie and said \u201cLet\u2019s teach ourselves to surf\u2019\"<\/p><\/blockquote>

We made a pact to get out there and practise any time we could. We were as green as grass, gloriously unskilled and without any guidance, and determined that we were somehow going to get good. Lush summer evenings spent bobbing out past the breakers, trying and failing to catch anything till the very last of the last light ebbed from the sky morphed into autumn and the epic discovery that waves get good after summer! Hooked\u2026hook line and sinker\u2026<\/p>

I can testify that surfing is as addictive as it is frustrating, as challenging as it is rewarding, and that the combination of a high octane sport, beautiful natural surroundings and a much needed escape from domesticity and the demands of young children fused together to create the ideal conditions for obsession.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>

So began a new season of intense effort, as the swell steadily built and the awesome power of the sea became ever more apparent. Still battling in the white water to master the pop up (god damn you!) wipeouts and hold downs were the norm with just an occasional and ever so fleeting moment of flying with both feet actually on the board and on the wave to sustain me. It was enough, for the addiction had taken hold and propelled me ever further into this alchemic sport, deep into the winter months when the sea turns from serene aquamarine to fearsome slate grey and the waves are gnarly, powerful and unforgiving.<\/p>

Yet something was happening on the inside as well as the outside, as my muscles and neurones battled to grasp the basics of this mercurial sport. A metamorphosis.<\/p><\/blockquote>

As lockdown descended again and the ordinary pleasures of socialising, schooling and shopping became once again the forbidden fruit, the winter ocean was the only escape from groundhog days. I ran to its cold embrace, seizing my slowly crumbling foamie like a life raft to another planet, careless of conditions, heedless of technique.<\/p>

This was survival.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>

Post winter, post lockdowns, post first foamie - a brave craft that by its end was held together with glue and hope -\u00a0 we emerged like shipwrecked sailors from the storm, hardly able to believe that the commonplace stuff like meeting friends, going to the pub and buying things in shops could actually be reality. The seasons of survival had passed but had carved themselves indelibly upon my soul. The waves were a part of me now in all their honest energy, their cleansing abilities, their mercurial spirit and most of all the pure flow state that surfing could summon, that in fact it demanded. So I purchased a proper wetsuit and a better board, and propelled myself into the ever more crowded lineup, now that holidaymakers and others could also join once more, determined to surf better.<\/p>

\"Surf more. Surf harder and bigger and braver. And I still am. Forever.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>","urlTitle":"lotus-life-blue-journey","url":"\/blog\/lotus-life-blue-journey\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/lotus-life-blue-journey\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/lotussurf.co.uk\/blog\/lotus-life-blue-journey\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1713704562,"updatedAt":1713706035,"publishedAt":1713706034,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":309190,"name":"Lotus Surf Co"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/3agfgeicswd3d2ekukiz2zs617loghhuaxlkclejzonyd1yl.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/3agfgeicswd3d2ekukiz2zs617loghhuaxlkclejzonyd1yl.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/3agfgeicswd3d2ekukiz2zs617loghhuaxlkclejzonyd1yl.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":36372,"title":"LOTUS LIFE - The M-Bomb","url":"\/blog\/the-m-bomb\/","urlTitle":"the-m-bomb","division":309190,"description":"Surf catastrophe meets the Menopause, how hormones could be ruining your ride and how (and why!) to get help with HRT.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lcngrkzgh0cufu1oun6bxjlvrglu6ouydtrbshhg9kytqudy.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lcngrkzgh0cufu1oun6bxjlvrglu6ouydtrbshhg9kytqudy.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":54986,"title":"Andrew Syms Biography","url":"\/blog\/https-lotussurf-co-uk-collection-andrew-syms\/","urlTitle":"https-lotussurf-co-uk-collection-andrew-syms","division":309190,"description":"Andrew is a self taught Cornish painter whose work resonates with energy and utilises a broad range of media. Within each piece is a microcosm of dynamic pulsing forms and shapes, each interacting with the next in bold juxtaposing panes. Embracing the abstract, Andrew uses primarily acrylic on board to infuse his works with immediacy and vivid colour, also at times embracing mixed media to add variety and depth","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ob8s8ygo6vvhvsjhr2bkdix0hu65mbz3ow5pg2yekwrk0rjy.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ob8s8ygo6vvhvsjhr2bkdix0hu65mbz3ow5pg2yekwrk0rjy.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":54987,"title":"Peter Beeson Biography","url":"\/blog\/peter-beeson\/","urlTitle":"peter-beeson","division":309190,"description":"Renowned painter Peter Beeson works from his studio in St Ives overlooking the sunrise, which is also which is also one of his favourite motifs. An outdoor and studio landscape painter, Peter obtained a Diploma in Art and Design in Silversmithing and Jewellery at the Sir John Cass School of Art in Whitechapel, London. After subsequently spending some years in the music business, in the 1990\u2019s he returned to his early fascination for the exploration of authentic local colour and tone in the landscape through oil painting","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/vaug2jxkedtlhjdcowg57dptq1rjz4v8qyifw1ramr8ajhxl.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/vaug2jxkedtlhjdcowg57dptq1rjz4v8qyifw1ramr8ajhxl.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}