The ocean warms up this time of year, and turns clear as a creek. I watched the bright orange Garibaldi fish darting in and out of the seagrass waving beneath my feet, as a leopard shark slinked below them, searching for something other than what was right in front of him.

Unlearning the old and relearning the new has been a bit of a hot mess. I recently wrote about the former-pro-turned-surf-coach who’d given me some techniques to work on, because after 4 decades of surfing, I’d developed some bad habits that were holding me back.

I’ve been doing what I can on land to retrain my mind and body to think and move differently, but the ocean doesn’t care.

The ocean laughs at my reinvention.

Silly boy.

This new learning curve is steep, but I know if I undid some of these bad habits, I’d be a better surfer. And the coach is right. I’d have more fun if I wasn’t blowing the occasional takeoff or falling on bigger turns.

Besides, it’s just surfing. And this place…the ocean…is the only place where my bad habits have become so ingrained that they aren’t habits anymore…they’re just part of who I am.

Only here.

Right?