The First Wave

That morning, the sun had just appeared over the horizon. The sky was glowing golden orange, while the sound of the waves broke the silence of the beach.

We stood at the edge of the beach, holding our surfboards. It was our first time trying surfing.

“Don’t be afraid of falling!” shouted the instructor.

We smiled nervously. “I’m actually more afraid that I won’t be able to stand!”

The instructor laughed. “If you fall, just get back up!”

We took a deep breath and then walked into the sea. The water felt cold as it touched our feet. We paddled farther out until we found a fairly large wave.

“Now!” shouted the instructor.

We started paddling as hard as we could. The wave was getting closer. Quickly, we pushed ourselves up on the boards and tried to stand.

For a few seconds, we succeeded!

The wind blew against our faces. We could feel our surfboards moving quickly across the water.

“I CAN DO IT!” we shouted excitedly.

However, the happiness did not last long.

Crash!

We fell into the water.

We surfaced, laughing. “Falling is actually easier than standing!”

The instructor came toward us. “But you managed to stand!”

We looked at the waves that kept coming one after another. We realized something. Surfing is not only about conquering the waves. Surfing is about having the courage to try, accepting failure, and getting back up again.

We tried several more times. We fell, got back up, paddled, and tried again.

One second.

Two seconds.

We stood up.

This time, we managed to keep our balance. Our surfboards glided along with the wave. The instructor smiled widely as we moved closer to the beach.

We had conquered our first wave.

When we returned to the beach, the instructor patted us on the shoulder.

“How does it feel?”

We looked at the sea, which was beginning to turn golden.

“It feels,” we replied with a smile, “like I want to try again tomorrow.”

Since that day, we no longer saw the waves as something to be afraid of. To us, every wave was a new opportunity to learn, try again, and become braver.