🌊 Riding Bigger Waves

There’s a moment every surfer knows
standing on the shore, watching the big waves rise,
feeling equal parts awe and hesitation.
Those waves look like they belong to someone stronger,
someone braver,
someone who already understands their language.

And maybe that’s how life works too.

We look at the “big waves”
the risks, the dreams, the unfamiliar choices
and convince ourselves they’re meant for people who have it all figured out.
People with more courage, more talent, more certainty.

But here’s the truth we often forget:

No one learns to ride the big waves
without paddling toward them first.

There is no secret door to confidence.
No shortcut to mastery.
No quiet whisper that tells you,
“You’re ready now.”

You become ready by trying.
By wobbling.
By wiping out.
By letting the ocean teach you its rhythm.

Growth doesn’t happen in the shallow water,
where the waves stay polite
and the stakes feel small.
Growth lives out past the break —
where you feel a little unsure,
a little unsteady,
a little more alive than you did yesterday.

Testing your limits isn’t recklessness.
It’s respect —
for the person you’re becoming.

You don’t have to chase every big wave.
You don’t have to conquer the impossible.
You just have to choose one wave
that scares you in a way that also excites you.

One thing you’ve been holding back on.
One opportunity you keep waiting to feel “ready” for.
One dream that keeps looking at you
like it wants you to try.

Because the only way to expand your ability
is to expand your courage.

And the wave you fear today
may be the one that teaches you
exactly who you are tomorrow.

So when life offers you a big wave —
heart pounding, knees shaking,
salt in the air, uncertainty in your chest —
don’t walk away too quickly.

Maybe this is the moment
you discover what you can really do
when you dare to paddle toward more.