Monday mornings at the beach are a favorite guilty pleasure.
This morning the surf report predicted a 2-3 foot swell at my local break, so I dropped my son off at school for an early class, loaded up the car and headed over. The only other person in the water was a friendly crane operator I'd met in the lineup a couple of months back, a regular with irregular hours.
As we surveyed what looked to be a disappointingly flat day from the sand, I remarked that I'd hoped for something bigger.
"Nah, today was a regardless day. I was going to paddle out and make it a good day regardless of conditions."
That concept sat with me as we chatted between what turned out to be steadily improving sets, and by the time I left it felt like an insight.
It was foggy, and there were 3 people in the water within my line of sight during the entire hour plus session. The cliffs were a riot of orange and red nasturtiums that coated the hillside in festive spring garb. A common loon, an aquatic bird with elaborately patterned black and white plumage and an aerodynamic profile, swam by me as I waited in the lineup.
A day of less than stellar waves was transformed into a regardless day, a chance to enjoy myself irrespective of forces beyond my control.
It's a personal practice I intend to adopt and refine in the years to come.