Illustration by April Dela Noche MIlne
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It was a cold May morning when I decided to bite the bullet. After receiving an e-mail from an old high school friend saying she was launching an all-girls surf trip, I knew I had to say yes.
You see, years ago, Ally had approached me about another adventure, and it totally changed my life.
At 19, she had invited me to work for a student travel agency that led groups of youth as they travelled the world. That one single act of saying yes launched a career of travel and student leadership that had me doing everything from exploring Caribbean islands to digging goat pens in China.
I came into my own on these trips, discovered the world, and even met my husband on one of them.
So, when she invited me on this new adventure just over a decade later, I knew it was no coincidence.
The trip seemed simple enough. Ten women aged 30 to 45, all complete strangers, meeting on the coast of Portugal to try something new: surfing in the Atlantic Ocean.
While travel and novel experiences had never really fazed me, even I had to admit this was one for the books. Traveling so far to spend 10 days with 10 strangers doing something none of us had ever done before?! It was ambitious, to say the least, and had the potential of being hilariously awkward.
That being said, I was ready to leave my job, my husband, my adorable Catahoula Leopard Dog and all of my creature comforts to embark on this epic adventure all in the name of trying something new. I swallowed hard and filled out the registration to book my spot. Little did I know I was about to embark on one of the most hilarious and powerful journeys of my adult life.
To some, a surfing adventure like this might not seem like much, but as a teacher who spends her days preaching to kids about the importance of stepping outside of their comfort zones, this was absolutely everything.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my past 33 years it’s that adults typically spend their days mastering that which they’ve done before. Be it a profession, a task, a skill or a scenario, it seems like we pride ourselves on becoming experts in whatever field we’ve fallen into, knowing more and more about less and less.
Now, in theory, this is a great strategy, as it allows you to become really, really good at one particular thing, but it also kind of ends up leaving some skills lacking. After all, if courage, adaptability and resilience are muscles grown, then what happens when we no longer use them?
I met my new surfing companions on the green grass of the hotel lawn in a small surf town called Ericeira. With backpacks in tow and jet lag running rampant, we exchanged shy smiles and broke the ice while nibbling Portuguese pastries and laughing about our journeys there.
Among the group, there was Bridgette, a bold and independent fitness coach and mother of two excited to use the trip as an opportunity to reset; Mary, a hilarious and knowledgeable nurse practitioner in a mid-career shift; and Kathryn, a business owner who, after recovering from a car accident, was celebrating her newly recovered inner and outer strength. While each woman had different motivations for being there, we were all united in a relentless desire to challenge ourselves, learn, tackle and grow.
Our coaches were an eclectic bunch of local surf enthusiasts who guided us through the motions of surf theory, analyzed our techniques and encouraged us with unwavering enthusiasm.
While Ericeira definitely has some beautiful sandy beaches, the shores where the beginners learn to surf are shallow and built up by mounds of slippery, moss-covered rocks. They make for softer waves, but also treacherous terrain.
We weathered the storms together – sometimes literally as rain thrashed down and frigid waves crashed all around us, and sometimes metaphorically as we splashed and flopped like baby seals around the unfamiliar rocky terrain. But with every fall words of encouragement filled the air, and with every triumph hoots and hollers echoed for miles around.
Together we faced the waves, sometimes head on, sometimes feet braced and occasionally head first, but we almost always came up with a smile and somehow always found a way to get back on the board again.
If I’m honest, I probably spent most of my days frozen to the bone, algae fused to every fibre of my being but that didn’t matter, because a new level of genuine joy was unlocked, and with every successful surf, a new sense of accomplishment was unleashed.
It might not have always been comfortable, but learning something new taught me to appreciate the art of failing forward, the humility that can come from sucking at something new, and the pride that develops when you finally manage to grasp something you’ve been working on.
While surfing might not be my calling, having the chance to try it inspired me to take more risks in life, to step outside of my comfort zone and to never stop believing in myself. You never know what you’re capable of if you don’t go out there and try.
Ashley J. Hassard lives in Toronto.