Stepping out your comfort zone - Why surfing is the ultimate confidence test.

Surfing isn't always catching the best waves, feeling in flow and having the rides of your life. It is hard, can feel overwhelming and when you aren’t progressing, can be frustrating, lacking in joy and excitement. This feeling translates to many areas of life where we can feel stuck, struggling to progress or low in confidence.

We all have those doubts, limiting beliefs and unhelpful thoughts that can stop us in our tracks. If we allow them to control our mindset for long enough, they become our default setting, manifesting into behaviours that don’t allow us to progress, try new things and achieve our goals. Have you ever told yourself, “you’re not good enough, you’re not a strong enough surfer, you aren't worthy, you’re too old?” These are the types of phrases that chip away at our self esteem, limiting our confidence and stopping us from going big.

The first step is acknowledging these unhelpful thoughts and when they occur. By observing the negativity we can start to train our brains to reframe, implementing a new belief system that is motivating, positive and supportive. If you don’t like the way you self analyse and allow imposter syndrome to rule your life, then now is your chance to make a change. Think how differently you would approach surfing and life if you had a kinder inner dialogue.

When you step into your power, you harness your true strengths and engage your inner confidence. This allows you to acknowledge your capabilities, have zero doubt in your ability and get excited by the challenges that lay ahead. Everyone has the opportunity to be the best version of themselves. It takes commitment to change. You cannot rely on external factors to make internal changes. So start by looking introspectively to decide what steps you can make to facilitate positive shifts.

Stepping out your comfort zone is the first action to creating change that unlocks new levels of confidence, new skills, new accomplishments and bit by bit will silence those limiting beliefs. This is the scary part and the first real test!

So the question is what do you do first?

You need clarity. What is it that you want to achieve and why?

It is so important to be connected to the intention behind a goal. This gives you motivation, emotional connection and opportunity for visualisation. You then have your driver, the thing that gets you up every day, the thing that motivates you to do 10 more sit ups, or paddle out one last time. If you are choosing to do something for external validation or to massage your ego, you’ll find the emotional connection is harder to forge.

To really create momentum towards achieving your goal you have to prove your limiting beliefs wrong as often as possible. This means having the courage to step out your comfort zone as many times as you can, little by little. This allows you to learn from the mistakes, promoting plasticity in the brain to help create new neural pathways. The more you try the easier it gets right? Those helpful hits of dopamine every time you get a small triumph are also pretty useful!

Imagine the time you surfed your very first board, how it felt. Or the times you’ve pushed yourself and had the best session and felt great for the rest of the day. This is the feeling you’re looking for to maintain the momentum. The more you promote positive accomplishment by doing things that scare you a little, the more you shift into a positive mindset of anything is possible.

What you learn about yourself in the surf is completely translatable to life. Be kinder to yourself, know that you are capable, stop the comparison and fear of judgement. Find things that take you out your comfort zone, that require courage, be brave and believe it is possible.

Davy J Swimwear