Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
yea rs old. I recall thinking I was born a fish in another life, or maybe it was a mermaid. Wa ve s, I decided, were clearly the earth's most exci ting natura l p I a y g r 0 un d. Limitless fun. I became interested in the art of surfing as soon as I discovered it . What could be better than gracefully navigating a'rcs of H20? I think I fell in love with the ocean when I was about four My birthday is in late August, and I clearly remember asking for a surfboard ... year after year. It became the gift that never arrived. I guess the idea of a teenage girl learning to surf was too far a stretch of the imagination for anyone-friends or family-within my sphere of influence. Later came a few romantic affiliations with a few who could surf ... only somehow I never learned. It wasn't until years later when many things in life became more clear. The first being: set your own goals to achieve your own happiness. No one else can do it for you. I decided that one day I would teach myself to surf on the shores of some remote place ... where I could live in a hammock for less than $5 a day. Around my 25th year I decided I'd better follow through on my plan to learn before it was too late. Half jokingly I told myself that within the next five years I might have a baby, which might alter my sense of gravity. (It's not true: A friend of mine went surfing while pregnant and found her sense of balance improved.) I headed off to Indonesia on my own and in three weeks in the ocean I befriended the sea in a way �@ �[ffi©@ [ffi© @©[ft)0'(t [ffi�w@ [ffi@�[J 0 @ mTIl©[J �[ffi�[ft) � \YAYႀ��@[J @[P)©[J�=D� D@ � mTIl@�ITi)D[ft)@ �[ft)@ mmW@�D©��o mm@[ft)����W ©[ffi���@ITi)®DITi)� � @@ 0 ©�OW@�Jf �(ill ��D � � 0 [ft) ® 0 [ft)�@[J�©�D © [ft) \YAYႀ01t 1t[ffi@ \YAYႀ©[J�@ @ mm©@1t [P)©\YAYႀ@[J�(ill� @[ft)@[J@W @@ Q=R�����ffi.� ____ __ __ __ Surfing taught me a lot more than how to surf. It taught me a bit how to live and a lot how to work. It taught me about business too, skills which I later used when we founded Blue. Looking at oncoming waves, you need to make split second decisions and stick to them. You learn that panic has no good side. You learn to trust your instincts and stick with the plan. You learn humility in the face of forces you cannot control. Sometimes you have to be fearless, and other times you have to listen to your fear. You learn never to give up. For me, learning to surf had a lot to do with starting Blue. By focusing on what you really want to do, seemingly impossible goals become feasible. Whether it's surfing or mountain climbing or another new challenge, a new company or a new job, a new journey or even a new day ... it all comes down to the same thing: deciding how intensely you want to live your life and following through on the plan. amy schrier founder ps I hope in the future girls don't wait as long as I did to start surfing.