While we were in Florida last week, I got the chance to do some stand-up paddle boarding.  It’s kind of like kayaking and surfing mixed together — you stand on a surf-board-like thing and paddle with a kayak-like paddle.  I’ve never really been much of a kayaker myself, and the one time I went surfing I concussed myself on the sand (AFTER standing up and riding a wave all the way in, mind you).  More proud of the wave riding; less proud of the concussion that followed.  But paddle boarding – for a reason that I can’t really pinpoint – has always appealed to me.

This trip was my second time trying the sport.  The first time was on one of our trips to Hawaii years ago.  I can’t remember which island we were on the year I decided to try it, but I remember I’d been sitting in our hotel room reading the Hawaii tourist magazine.  Which is a little crazy to think about in itself: I was sitting quietly, relaxing and reading a magazine.  To myself.  For entertainment.  Not just flipping through talking about the colors in the pictures to distract someone from trying to like… lick the doorknobs or something.  Amazing.

Anyway, there I sat, reading the magazine.  There was an article about paddle boarding with a big, double-page spread photo of an older Hawaiian gentleman standing on a still ocean, at ease on his paddle board, paddle in hand.  Probably gazing off into the horizon, though I don’t remember all the details.   The article was partially an interview with said gentleman, and it described how he paddled around the island of Oahu every single morning.  Or at least that’s what I remember reading.   As I write this, I can’t imagine he really went around the whole island EVERY morning… but apparently in my memory he’s a beast.  So around the island my memory of him goes.  The article also described what an amazing total body workout paddle boarding is, and how an hour of paddle boarding burns something ridiculous like 1000 calories.

Fun Fact: Oahu is the birthplace of stand-up paddle boarding

Another Fun Fact: Paddle boarding in Hawaii is hella hard.

I’m also not sure how many calories its possible to burn while actually paddling the board is really relevant to my first attempt.  What would have been more interesting is the calories burned climbing onto the board itself — over and over and over again.  I climbed on; I fell off.  I climbed on; I fell off.  I don’t know how they got a picture of that dude standing perfectly still, but the Hawaiian ocean I attempted to board on was full of rolling waves determined to toss me off into the water.   It was pretty much a paddle boarding fail, and probably incredibly amusing to anyone on the beach watching me try.

One might ask oneself why, after that first experience, I was so anxious to try it again last week in Florida.  I’m not really sure I can answer that question either.  Maybe because I’m in much better shape now than I was then and wanted to see if I’d be better at it?  Maybe because it was offered free with our hotel and it seemed a shame not to take advantage?  I don’t know, but one day when the kids were napping, I went down to the beach to give it a whirl.

As in many things, the real trick to paddle boarding is balance.  You can have all the ripped arm muscles in the world and be capable of paddling forever, but if you can’t tighten your core and bend your knees when a rolling wave comes up underneath you, you will be tossed into the water with laughable speed – as discovered in Hawaii.  It’s the strength of the core that defines ones ability to succeed or not.

I’m very pleased to report that I was not only able to successfully stand up this time around without falling off, but I paddled all the way up the side of Marco Island and back in the allotted hour.  The guys managing the rentals on the beach told me they had never seen anyone make it that far, so by their account I hold the paddle board distance record among the retirees and young parents that make up the majority of the Marco tourists.  I didn’t get a medal or a trophy of any kind, but if I had, I would be proudly displaying it on my mantel right now.

And as I paddled, I got to enjoy the quietness of being out a ways from shore on the ocean — pretty much by myself.  I was passed by the occasional jet ski, but for the most part it was just me and my thoughts.  It’s not a view I’ve gotten much of before, either — being way out in the water looking back on the shore from a distance.  Hearing the gentle lap of the waves on the edge of my board.   Feeling the roll of the water under my feet.  Unique, to say the least.  And empowering.

There’s something incredibly confident about standing there, feeling your arms and your abs and your back working together to propel you through the water.  And in a bikini, no less.  There are times in my life when I wouldn’t have stood anywhere in a bikini, much less on the open water as an object of attention for anyone on the shore.  But I wasn’t even thinking about that except in later reflection.  It wasn’t about that.  It was about strength.  And balance.  And the beauty that you feel when those things come together.

Thomas Merton, a Catholic writer and monk, once wrote: “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”  That’s a pretty powerful statement.  Happiness is not a matter of intensity.  As a person, I tend toward intensity.  Focus.  It makes me effective, no doubt.  But does it make me happy?   It’s an interesting question.  Does the intensity and drive really reflect a happy state of being?  Of balance?  Or as with paddle boarding, is it the strength of the core and ones ability to use that strength to achieve balance what defines ones ability to achieve happiness?  MY ability to achieve happiness?

How do you remain a passionate, focused person without falling victim to the pull of imbalance?  Without leaning so far in one direction or the other that being tossed into the fray is inevitable?  I wish I had more examples of passion and balance from which to draw.

As I stood there, appreciating the sun on my face and the quiet moment with my own thoughts, I had an epiphany about balance.  That it’s worth continuing to try to achieve it because the rewards can be spectacular.   Balance, and a strong core.  Muscles engaged, but holding to a stillness.  A quietness.  Harnessing the intensity to achieve the rhythm and harmony of happiness.  That epiphany is the real success of the paddle boarding experience.  The real trophy I would like to put on my mantel as a reminder of the day, and the thought I wanted to be sure to capture and share about the moment.