What Surfers Can Teach Us About Living Well

29 Sep What Surfers Can Teach Us About Living Well

Telluride locals generally have a smile on their face and exude an overall sense of well-being, especially when snow arrives before the end of September like it did today.  Although we love the mountains, when the off-season hits many of us head out to the ocean to enjoy activities like snorkeling, diving and, of course, surfing.

Carla Herreria, an associate editor for HuffPost Hawaii, shares 6 reasons “why surfers just might the whole bliss thing figured out.” Then again, maybe she’s just running into surfers who live in Telluride when they’re not vacationing in Hawaii.

Surfers seem to have something the rest of the world does not. After all, their hair seems to hang a little looser and their smiles seem to stretch a little wider. Maybe it’s all that time spent in the ocean or the heavy doses of vitamin D, but we think surfers — as a whole — might have this whole bliss thing figured out. Here are six reasons why:

They know how to live in the moment.
The ocean is unpredictable. It can cradle you one moment, and turn ruthlessly violent the next. Surfers constantly read and adapt to these changes, whether it’s to catch an exhilarating wave or to be safe during a surprise wipeout.

And as professional surfer Keala Kennelly once described, riding waves also lends itself to a zen-like state. “Nothing remains except extreme focus for the task at hand,” she told Surfer magazine. “When I get way out the back [of the wave] and am looking in at those mountains, I feel my heart expand from all the beauty.”

They protect what they love
It’s no coincidence that many surfers consider themselves environmentalists. They spend most of their time in or near the ocean so they see firsthand humans’ impact on Earth.

Many pro surfers have used their fame to help clean up the waters. And the Surfrider Foundation, which was founded by three surfers from Malibu, has racked up a long list of environmental wins, including saving 930 acres of wetlands in California and helping the Hawaiian island of Oahu ban smoking on beaches.

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