Mr. Obama caught the Presidential wave
When I was in my tweens, I use to go to Myrtle Beach practically every year with my parents. Back then, people didn’t take a friend on vacation too, so I was down there with nobody else to hang with.
So what does an active 11 or 12 year old boy do to entertain himself while on vacation without his friends? BODYSURFING
Body Surfing is basically what it sounds like… you don’t have a surfboard and your parents won’t rent one (I’m not bitter, lol), so you swim out to where the waves start to turn and get your body in from of it and ride it like you would do if you did have a surfboard (I’m still not bitter)!!! But I digress (I always wanted to write that)…
So what does this have to do with personal finance?
Basically, I learned if you constantly wait for the perfect wave, mostly you wait there wasting time and light. Of course, if you grab just any wave, the ride would be lame and not enjoyable… So eventually you learn to distinguish which wave is fun and which one is a waste of time.
IMO, life is much like choosing your wave, if you wait to long in making choices, you miss a lot of good opportunities. But if you settle for just anything, you won’t really know how much fun you can have, and at the end you are unfulfilled.
It’s all about balance, and I can tell that I’m out of balance because I keep thinking about going on vacation and doing the things that we do down there!
-MR
I am heading to Myrtle Beach very soon, and I will think of you when I hurt my back body surfing. 🙂
I do agree with the premise of your post. I constantly strive to find that balance. But you have to take some chances to get some rewards. Sometimes that big wave will topple over your head and other times it will be the ride of your life. But I don’t want to be the one to sit back and watch others grab the wave.
Fun post. Can’t wait for vacation now! Oh by the way, I know you alluded to getting stung at Myrtle Beach, did you mean jellyfish?
@everyday tips
Yes, I included the picture of Obama body surfing just as an example of taking such chances and surfing the ultimate wave 🙂
S.C., I won’t be down there until August (UGH!), it seems so far away. But I also don’t want it to come to quickly, because that’s too close to the end of summer (Ugh again).
Yes, my son (who is only 9) has been stung three times already by Jellyfish! I’ve been stung once badly, and to minor degrees a few other times. Take the good with the bad I guess (and that’s not including the palmetto bugs)… 😉
Hope you have fun on your vaca coming up soon!!!
Great analogy to life. It’s sort of like a perfectionist not making a decision because it’s not perfect, so then never commits to anything. Or someone who just settles, but ends up being unhappy. Life is a great balancing act!
@Little House
That’s exactly what I meant.
I think there is a third dimension to it also. I think as we grow older, we develop a greater capacity to want to ride the big waves or at least the more decent wave. By this time, and with adequate experience we know to pass up the smaller waves or to not even waste our time looking for waves at all if we know the tide will be lame (of course by checking other resources such as TV, online sites, etc…)
As you can tell, I’m ready for vacation! Perhaps I’ll have to go on a three day mini-vacation some time soon!
I had a boss that loved Colin Powell and quoted him every chance he got. The only one that really stuck with me was his philosophy on decision making, which was, wait until you have 75% of the fact. Less than that, you don’t know enough to make a sound decision, more than that, you’re too overwhelmed by facts to see the right choice.
Good advice, too bad my boss never went over how to know when you’ve reached 75%…
@Jin6655321
Hmmm, interesting idea! I’ve never heard that one before.
I guess it’s a good way to quantify the old saying “Only fools rush in”.
After you know 75% of what you believe you should know (you are right, seems to me that it would be tricky know when you approach knowing that 75%), you are definitely not rushing in…
i have never been surfing; somehow it hasnt really caught on in east africa. That and the fact that i live so far away from the beach. When i get cash i will do all the types of surfing available…God willing
@kt
I’ve went body surfing before, but that’s it…
It’s just something to do if you are a kid and bored. I now do it to bring back memories. It’s not like the picture of Obama above. The waves are much smaller in S.C than Hawaii.