Making the Transition

This is what I've been doing for the last two weeks. I've had to completely change the way I live my life. Two weeks ago, it was all about surfing, all about skating, all about writing about surfing, all about surfboards, all about surf blogs, etc.

I liked that life for the most part. I miss it, of course, but now that I've gotten a paycheck, I know I'm doing what needs to be done for the time being. This is the most money anyone has ever paid me to do anything. I didn't even ask for this amount. I would have been satisfied with less because, truly, I'm not that into the money and I don't have expensive tastes in anything but surfboards. I just need enough to pay the bills. I can now pay the bills. And that is a relief.

Still, the loss of free time, the loss of play time, is what's made the transition hard for me. When the sun is out, my body (and mind) believes it should be outside. Instead, I'm sitting in front of a computer. The good thing is that my company allows me to do what I want while I wait for work to either come across my desk or my screen. Therefore, I'm free to write about surfing, read about surfing and do as much of my thing as I can do while sitting down in a building to which I must give eight hours or more of my time five days a week. I am grateful for that. Last week, I finally finished an article I'd started about riding mats. When it goes live on the site to which I sent it, I will also post it here. So, the way I see it, I got paid to write.

I got my first paycheck. It was for one week of work. The word "stoked" doesn't begin to describe how I felt when I opened the envelope. I tell myself every day that I've got to stick it out for a year. In the meantime, I've got to figure out how to survive without having to sit behind a desk. This is why it's hard to live the life so many of us enjoy. Unless you're independently wealthy, you can only live so long as a free surfer or free skater before you're forced back into the working world. If I only had myself to think of, I'd do what I want. But I have a child whom I love dearly. We only get one chance to do the parenting thing right. The right thing for me, at this point in my life, is to ensure that his needs (emotionally, educationally, nutritionally and, eventually, orthodontically) are met. He is my world. So, I'm happy to be able to make some good money for awhile. And who knows? I may actually come to like this job and learn how to work it into my life as a surfer/skater. I already stroll in there at 9:30 every morning . . . and people still arrive later than that. (You've gotta love the fashion industry!!) Dawn patrol will certainly be a valid option once the daylight permits.

In other news, it rained for the last few days. No surfing for me this weekend. Oh well.