Duck Diving & Turtle Rolls -- lessons from surfing for managing the crashing waves of Omicron
Duck Diving & Turtle Rolls -- lessons from surfing for managing the crashing waves of Omicron
In February 2006, I boarded an airplane headed to Costa Rica with a single goal —
to learn how to surf. Surfboards were rented and I enrolled in surf school in Playa Jaco.
Learning to surf was really hard. It was a process — from learning techniques on the beach to battling through the crashing waves to catching a wave and then attempting to balance on a board while moving with the wave. I definitely needed a teacher and relied on his expertise and encouragement to get me standing up on a surfboard.
Paddling out to catch a wave is exhausting (and I’m a freaking swimmer, but swimming into/under waves with a longboard is hard work). Surfers are required to get out past the crashing waves in order to get into the lineup and then catch their wave. In order to get through the waves, one must either duck dive or turtle roll through countless and powerful waves.
Despite how exhausting duck diving and turtle rolling are, I learned quickly (during my very first surf lesson) that it is far better to do the work to get under the wave than it is to get smacked in the face with the wave (while lugging a surfboard, which is bound to hit you in the face while the wave is crashing down upon you). Water is powerful and a wave can take your breath away, pull you underwater, twist and turn you, and cause you to lose your sense of balance/up-and-down.
While surfing, I would dive under one wave, come up, and be faced immediately with another wave. I would have to come up from one dive, take a quick breath, and dive under the next wave coming straight at me. And then I’d have to repeat the process over and over and over. At times I felt like I’d never make it beyond the crashing waves. It felt like I was stuck in one place, facing wave after wave, and not making any forward progress. The waves slammed down on me again and again. I barely had enough time to breathe before ducking under the next wave. It was brutal — both physically and emotionally.
Sounds a lot like living through a pandemic, doesn’t it?
There are so many parallels between learning to surf and living through a pandemic.
First, both are exhausting.
Because of the Omicron surge, we are all getting slammed with news of higher rates of cases, increasing hospitalizations, more illness among children, and vaccination rates stagnant. It is one wave after another. I can barely catch my breath, and I feel like there is no forward progress. The waves keep coming, and I swear they are getting bigger and more powerful (more hospitalization, more deaths, no masking). But, as I learned while surfing, it is far better to do the work to get under the wave than it is to get smacked in the face with the wave. Despite being exhausted by constant negotiations about what is safe to do and the need for a mask indoors all the time, it is better to make every effort to slow the spread of COVID (and avoid illness altogether) than it is to be hit in the face (read: lungs) with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Doing the hard work to slow the spread of disease (instead of just allowing yourself to get sick) is important in order to protect those who cannot be vaccinated (kids 0-4), protect individuals who are immunocompromised, and reduce the stress on our healthcare system.
Second, experts are needed to help teach and to encourage us.
My surfing instructor had spent more than two decades surfing and teaching others to surf. He was from Costa Rica and knew the beach and the waves intimately. He taught me not only how to successfully stand up on the board, but also how to be safe in the water. And he was able to watch me with my board and make comments and corrections to help me avoid injuries (especially while nosediving).
In a pandemic, we also need experts. We were not born with an innate skill set to help us safely get through a pandemic. Some of us actually have spent years/decades studying in the health sciences and becoming intimately knowledgeable about infectious diseases. We need people who understand viruses, disease transmission, public health surveillance, and how to turn data into healthy actions. And these experts — you know… the epidemiologists — are providing accurate information, but also strategies to living through the pandemic. We are watching what is happening, thinking about it, and offering sound advice for navigating the complexities of living our pandemic lives. As epidemiologists, we are also offering encouragement and trying to build community as we all live day-by-day through a pandemic that we were not prepared for in any way, shape, or form.
Please listen to us. If you don’t agree or don’t understand, ask us a question. Engage with us; do not ignore us or insist you know what is best.
Finally, the process of making it through the waves is easier when there is a goal/dream to focus on.
When I was swimming out through the crashing waves, all I wanted was to surf. And so I focused on my goal, my dream of surfing in Costa Rica. Each duck dive got me one step closer to surfing, as did every turtle roll. Each time I listened to my teacher and heeded his advice I was one step closer to surfing. And despite the tears and the frustration, I kept powering through the waves because the dream of surfing was so important to me.
And so I am trying — in the midst of so much disease, division, and death caused by Omicron — to muster the courage to really dream of and focus on a healthy and safe world where COVID is not spreading exponentially, our hospitals are not overflowing, our healthcare system is breaking at the seams, and where we come together as a community to care for the most vulnerable among us.
The goal is — to slow the spread of COVID and then to rebuild our system of clinical and public health care to ensure that we can all be healthy.
While we are fighting the waves of Omicron and the parallel pandemic of misinformation, I need to remind myself of this goal I am working toward. I want to build a healthy community. I want a healthcare and public health system that prioritizes the health of the most vulnerable because then (and only then) can we all be healthy.
Will you join me? Will you embrace this goal as your own?
Part of what made learning to surf (way back in 2006) such a memorable experience for me was that my sweet husband was there with me. Together we dreamed of learning to surf, got on the airplane together, battled through the waves, recovered from nosedives, and cheered for each other as we stood up on our surfboards.
Achieving my dream of learning to surf was made even sweeter because WE learned how to surf together.
Looking back on my experience learning to surf, I can see ways for us to navigate through the current Omicron surge and whatever else is thrown our way by the pandemic…
Coming together as a community with a shared dream is the starting place.
Can we agree that we want to create a healthy and safe community for all?
If we can agree to this shared dream —
Let’s listen to the experts; heed their advice and their understanding of the science; and allow them to inform and encourage us.
Let’s remind each other that despite the crashing waves and the feeling that we are not making forward progress, we are. And we have a shared goal to focus on.
Let’s use the tools we have to help us navigate the waves that are slamming down on us. We can decrease the stress on our healthcare system and slow the spread of disease by getting vaccinated, wearing a mask indoors, staying home while we are ill, informing others when we are diagnosed with COVID, and avoiding crowded events.
Together we can realize this shared dream. Together we can navigate through the waves. Together we can spur each other through exhaustion. And together we can encourage and thank each other for the work we are all doing to realize our shared dream. I know that your efforts to get vaccinated, mask, stay home, and avoid crowds are helping to slow the spread of disease. And each effort you make is laying the groundwork for a healthy and safe future.
Thank you.
