Meet Sissy and Lois. Two women who do not know each other, and for all intent and purpose will not ever meet each other. But they are bound together by surfing, and how it has affected their lives.

Learning to surf is serious business for Sissy … she approaches it with much excitement and methodical analysis. From day one, when she decided to paddle out into the great blue on her own, atop a much-used and at times abused beater of a surfboard, without so much as a lesson or previous surfing experience … she knew she was onto something that would latch onto her spirit with passion and nagging fury.

Surfing has become a chore for Lois after ten years of surfing on and off … used as an occasional escape from her 9-to-5 going-nowhere-career and floundering social life. Surfing as a lifestyle passion has slipped from her daily living as she logs more time in the office taking care of her job rather than her well-being. Fear of losing her job has prevented her from going to her morning surf sessions, and weekend work has been all but time consuming.

I know both these women, living incredibly opposed lifestyles and systems of belief … likened to different sides of the same coin.

Sissy has embraced her fears and has begun to blossom into someone willing to take personal risks to pursue what she loves, regardless of what people may say. She knows where she needs to be and is willing to make mistakes to get there. In stark contrast is Lois … slowly sinking into the depths of her fears and worries, losing touch with what has made her truly beautiful in the past. She is waiting desperately for someone or something to rescue her from the mire she has been trapped in, fearing the unknown and dreading the present.

I know both these women because I was each one of them at some point and time in my life. I was Lois not so long ago, caught in a swirl of excuses and justifications as to why I was unwilling to be the woman I needed to be. The surfer I so desperately wanted to become. The big waves pounding in from the outside forced me to retreat to the safety of the inside ripples … at times, even worst, all the way to shore.

But Lois gave way to Sissy very quickly once I told myself that I deserved to be out in the bigger waves … where I could glide happily (and at times nervously!) into the waves that made me truly happy. Lois peeled away to give birth to Sissy, who was still afraid at times but no longer content to sit there and be an unwilling victim to her fears. Sissy who paddled out into bigger waves that pounded her mercifully at times, but continued on with the knowledge that there was something better on the other side.

Lois and Sissy are my inspiration on a daily basis now … not just Sissy with her brave boldness and willingness to forage on, but also Lois in her quiet despair. I am inspired to ensure that Lois does not become the anchor that holds Sissy back ever again … they both deserve to slide into those beautiful waves in the ocean, and into those beautiful moments in living a strong and purposeful life.

Life was not given to us to be filled with regrets. Opportunities await you and can be more fun than you ever imagined if you’ll simply take the chance. Take advantage of those opportunities and have a blast. What good can possibly come from saying you never tried? – author unknown