Windsurfing passion

coffeechat-2The Secret of Passion – How does one find their passion? that is Leslie’s question over at Time out for Mom this week. Weeelll, my answer: Trial and error. I know very obvious, right? But seriously, you may be born with a passion for xyz, but how would you actually know unless you tried out several things and found that particular one? Which is why I firmly believe you should try – almost – all things at least once. Some even more than once, because things and you, yourself change over time.

The most obvious change is taste. Yes, taste in people, fashion, anything, but even simpler: Taste buds. They change, believe me. I am old enough to know that for certain. Example: I have hated brussel sprouts with a passion as a kid. And spinach, too. These days, when I bake mixed veggies in the oven I have to have brussel sprouts among them. And spinach – whoa, o.k. if you really want to know. In Germany growing up, all I knew it was frozen, shredded and blended to an almost unidentifiable mix of green goo that you had to eat. Dislike. To be fair, my mom actually tried different recipes and one in particular that I ended up liking. It was still the same green goo, but it was ‘packed’ nicely. Basically a base of mashed potatoes, topped with spinach and then, like in a nest, an egg in the middle, sprinkled with bacon baked in the oven till done. Hmm, now that I think about it, I could almost try that with a few minor alterations.

Anyways, back to spinach – these days, we are eating it in salads, green smoothies (I know also kind of a green goo ;)) and sauteed and we love it. So, proof that tastes do change. And therefore it is important and it stays important through life, to try new and old things. You might be in for a surprise and all of sudden love what you hated before. And maybe, just maybe, discover that you even love ‘it’ – passionately.

So it happened for me with… windsurfing. There are no early photos (that I know of), but I did get in contact with windsurfing in my teens, quite a while ago. Back then I didn’t know it, but now I am calling it my passion. Back then I had a very scary incident happening, not really life threatening, but I was very scared, and actually have been ever since, of drifting to the open ocean with no means to come back ashore. Still, I tried it out again 10 years ago and since then every vacation is spent windsurfing. David and I have been to a lot of wonderful places, some of which are generally associated with anything but windsurfing e.g. Egypt. Do you know that I still have not seen the pyramids yet, despite having been pretty close multiple times? All I did was windsurfing.

Another passion of mine that I have known for quite a while longer – you guessed it – is photography. Taking photos has been a part of me since I was about 11 or 12 (I could look it up, but who really cares) years old. I know today that is old to get started with photography, kids get phones when they are about six, right?! But back then, I was mega proud to own a pocket camera and be able to take pictures of my very first vacation without my parents (a one week hiking trip with our swimming club). And I still have those photos in an album, probably horribly faded, but good memories. But again, photography was not an obvious art choice – if I had not tried it. I started out with drawing, painting (oil and water color) and I loved all kinds of art lessons in school (next to sports pretty much the only ones). But the one thing that really stuck was and is photography.

So, my advice to finding passion: If you see something new and touching in you in one way or the other – try it out. You never know what you might discover.

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p.s. quite obviously these photos were not taken by me, but my dear husband 🙂

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18 thoughts on “Windsurfing passion”

  1. I am so glad you answered the prompt like this!
    When I was reading over my own, I realized I didn’t say what my own passion was — partly it seemed obvious: writing.
    But I am also one who had a change of passion as the years slipped by. I used to be so into sports. All of Them. Including windsurfing, sailing because I grew up on windy Lake Ontario. But as I have gotten older (and 1 knee surgery), I am not quite as active in those kinds of sports. I had to find something new to fill in the gap of the things I couldn’t do any more. The time that was once devoted to sports practice, I re-discovered that I loved to write when I was younger. And then now – with the responsibilities of home and children, again my time is divided – BUT, I am also trying to capture all that in a bottle. hence, my new passion Photography. Which is what I talked about in my post: the one I am cultivating. It does not come naturally to me. Not like a game of volleyball on the beach; or a sonnet ode to the same.
    Nice shots to the hubby!

    Reply
    • Oh, yes, the fact that writing is your passion is obvious, Leslie. I meant what I commented on your post. Your posts are always fun to read, even when there are no photos. Here it is kind of the opposite. Which is o.k., because I am not a writer 🙂
      As for sports, getting older and having possibly health issues, well, I hope there will always be some kind of sport possible and fun. Maybe not windsurfing forever, although we have met people way in the 70s windsurfing better than we did. Respect!
      And photography – well, you just keep on practicing, girl, and you’ll get there 🙂

      Reply
  2. It IS funny how things can change over time as far as food tastes go. I felt the same about spinach and brussel sprouts, kale and turnip greens. I love spinach and brussel sprouts now. Your mom’s mashed potato concoction sounds interesting. I envision that with some kind of cheese. Two vegetables that I hated as a child and still do are the yellow green beans and turnip greens. Blech.

    Reply
    • Funny you should mention Kale. I only found out via dictionary what this actually is in German and was surprised, because again, like spinach, it is or was not eaten raw, but only cooked as a veggie (with smoked sausages) and I really liked that. And now the kale ends up in my smoothie. Yellow green beans, I have got no idea and I do not like turnips or fennel – ewwwh.

      Reply
  3. Windsurfing looks like so much fun. I’d love to try it out one time. Lately, I’ve been wanting to try paddle boarding (is that what it’s called?) it just looks awesome. And I agree with you 100% about trying new things… There are so many things that I wouldn’t touch as a child and now love eating, a good example, beets – hated them with a passion when I was young, love them now. And it obviously goes for other things too…

    Reply
    • Well, why not try it?! I am sure there are windsurfing schools down in Florida. And I would definitely advise you to take a few, couple, however many lessons, just to get a first idea. Oh, and it is called ‘stand up paddling’ or short SUP 😉

      Reply
  4. Nice jibe! And nice meeting and sailing with you in Bonaire. Standup paddling is a great companion sport to windsurfing…when there’s no wind, we paddle, when it’s too windy to paddle, we windsurf.

    Reply
    • Hahaha – liar! That looks horrible (to someone who knows what it is supposed to look like – an open door…), but thanks anyways, Michael, and I had fun. You know we always wanted to really try SUPing, David did once in Greece, but I have never ever. I actually sailed a SUP in Greece, does that count? 😉

      Reply
  5. You are amazing!! I would love to try that, its funny the older I get the more I want to go out and try things i never thought I could do before. Thank you for sharing your passions with us it makes me want to discover a few more.

    Reply
    • Awww, thank you so much, Jessica. I love it when I meet someone who also loves to try out new things. I really hope you get to try it. I do believe we are supposed to have spring, followed by summer some time – soon

      Reply
    • I’m sure you could do it, Julie. Just grab your family for a day out at a lake or such, get an instructor and have fun together in and on the water! You will not go fast and possibly scary fast when you start out, it is just fun.

      Reply

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