Injured in perfection

So no one likes to get sick, or get injured. That's more than natural because we should all be trying to be enjoying ourselves creating memories that will compensate for the endless hours we invest in our respective dayjob torture. Being a surfer has its definite pluses but also has its drawbacks.

On the positive side, surfing is liberating, fun, exercise, good for your health, great for the soul and something I plan on doing as long as I am able to. The negative side is that it depends on weather conditions often times and getting the right tide, the right swell, the right wind direction and the right rhythm for your surfing is not exactly easy. Which makes getting injued when it's epic that much more painful.

Last Sunday I was at the beach, the conditions were blissful to put it lightly and I'm bummed at myself for not having gotten up sooner (who knows if I would have been able to avoid the injury). But I was going to make the most of it. First wave, a bit tentative and got barreled..... on a tentative wave... so you can imagine the smile, the satisfaction and the idea that I was going to get my fix and then some... then something happened... call it silly, odd, stupid, unfair, illogical or just plain bad luck but when I was going back out, look towards my right while paddling and there went my neck... a spasm as I'd never felt before because it wasn't massive but it definitely felt wrong and I thought it would pass..... which it hasn't, and it's been more than 24 hours since the event.

I insisted on staying out and took five more waves which probably aggravated the injury but I didn't care because I was about to cry. Even with a bum neck, I got two more barrels an air and a roll.... that last one really sucked for my neck.

As I sit here, writing against what's probably best for me because I'm too desperate to continue laying in bed, I ask myself if this is just the first of a series of injuries and physical setbacks, because I'm not old, but I'm not getting younger.

I also realize that not being at work really doesn't bother me that much and I totally understand that I'm just there to earn a living even if it's the first job I actually enjoy. But the thing that bugs me is that I didn't get hurt when surf sucked, when I was shopping, when I was working or any other situation where it would have hurt less... no, I got hurt when it was epic and the conditions I've been begging for months upon months. I get to realize that it's not fate, or life, or anything working against me, it's just something that happened but like most humanity, I need to attribute some extra meaning to the event simply because of the circumstances and because you at least want an answer of why something like that has to happen, even if it's a little blip in the grand scheme of life.

And I guess it just helps me put things in perspective. Why should I get hung up on one moment, if my entire life is but a blip that I really should make the most of.

Just something to think about.

Cheers