Even this will pass

For the past 20 Christmas holidays I have been going to Mossel Bay with its sunny weather and warm water. This year for various reasons which I'm not going to go into much detail now, I decided to stay in Cape Town for a change. For one I was hoping of eating less and being more active. Despite a couple of good things that have convinced myself that staying at home was a good choice, too many disappointments made me realize that I might've been better off in Mossel Bay. Although most tourists and holiday makers might say that the weather has been gorgeous over the last couple of weeks, I don't think that they really do much kitesurfing or other nature involved sports. Except for sun tanning maybe if that could be called a sport.

So this morning  I got up very early ready to make today the best day of my holiday so far. Had I only known what was waiting I would rather have stayed in bed. After deciding to go for a surf to clear my head and to see if I can lift my spirit I headed for Big Bay to enjoy the reasonable sized waves it had to offer. Clearly in need of some sort of comfort that only surfing can provide I jumped into my wetsuit and headed straight for the waves. When I reached the water I could only utter one word...:"F**k!". No, it was actually two words..."Holy f**k!!" All of a sudden the absensce of surfers in the water and the couple of guys sitting on the beach covered from head to toe with booties, hoodies and 7 mil wetsuits started to make sense. Although the surf livesaving information board indicated the water temperature the day before to be 14 degrees C, I am pretty sure that overnight it dropped with another 3 or 4 degrees. It was freezing cold. And this was it...I just couldn't take it anymore....

I know a quick surf sessions ALWAYS makes me feel better no matter what dilemma I am going through in my life, but this morning I don't think my current state of mind could handle the cold water that well. It's like crawling through a desert and coming into reach of a bottle of Perrier mineral water that was dropped by some passing Arabs on their way to Timbuktu. The only problem is that there is absolute no more energy left to move 5 inches forward to reach a bottle of water that might save your life. You just cannot do it. So there I was, I also just couldn't do it. For the first time in my life I turned around and walked away from what could've saved me this morning. I feel like I have failed miserably. I made a mistake and it feels as if a love affair has been ended..... What I was hoping to be the best day of my vacation turned into probably the worst one ever.

But like my wife always says..."Even this will pass". I am pretty sure that the water will warm up again. I am also sure that my life will go on and that I will do many exciting things again, meeting many intersting people and looking back at this day as a lesson learned. It might be good to try new things, make changes, but when things are working, stick to them. Maybe in a year's time I will be soaring with my paraglider above the dunes near Mossel Bay or will be swimming with the dophins again. Maybe even doing my first trip on my bike into Africa and thinking back at today, the 30th of December 2009, when I realized that there must be more out there than disappointments caused by stupid decisions.

I hope you all have a good 2010, better than what my day was today. I am planning on making 2010 the best year of my life. I'm sticking with the friends, people and things I know that  makes me happy, and will stay clear from those who don't.....

May 2010 be the year to remember!