It's like a 25 foot elevator drop where sometimes it take more faith then skill.

Watching surfing movies like Riding Giants sometimes messes me up pretty good. It's late summer, I'm in the middle of thinking about what I really want to do with my life, and watching a movie like this is just like someone taunting me. Saying "you don't need to spend your life in an office, you could make different choices."

The whole thing reminds me of quote I saw on a Starbucks cup the other day. I don't remember it exactly, but it went something like:

People say that failure can be limiting, but I think sucess can be much more limiting. The combination of opportunity, praise and money can lock you in for life.

Every now and then I wonder if I should be out doing something totally different. I wonder what it would be like to just change up my career and be a full time raft guide for a summer. Or go do some more event management. Hell, I even thought about becoming a paramedic. But change like that is scary, and it's scary for lots of reasons. Not only is it the unknown from a day to day standpoint, but those kinds of things come with a dramatically different financial position from where I am now.

My friend Jane went through all this, and in the end made a decision that I can't bring myself to make. She used to do IT work for a big company in Pittsburg, but eventually decided she needed to shift gears. She moved to Seattle knowing nothing but that she was enrolled in a raft guide training class. Initially the whole thing was just a three month leave of absense from her job. But when the three months were up she decided she likes this version of her life more. So she stayed. She found a job at a local outdoor clothing and supply shop and rafts every weekend (she's also by far our best rookie guide this year.) Jane's awesome, and I'm impressed and a bit shamed by her courage in this space.

So I think about friends like Jane, and watch movies like Riding Giants, and wonder if my priorities really are right. At the end of the day, the answer is I don't know - but I don't think they're too far off. I think just the fact that I go through the exercise serves as a good sign. And while big, dramatic change is romantic, the novelty of it all wears off if it's not right for me. Of course, sometimes you can't see past the haze of the unknown and just have to go - it's about faith.

But wait, you wanted me to talk about the movie? Secretly, I have been. Riding Giants is all about big wave riding - something that traditionally sane people stay away from. It's a thing that challenges your soul, confronts your fear of the unknown, sees what kinds of risks you're willing to take. This movie showcases that, or at least it did for me. I especially liked the mavericks section. Not recommended if you don't have any surfing background, but if you like surfing or have surfed before, don't miss it.

Also, stick around through the credits for my favorite quote in the whole movie:

I was in school and I was flunking french and my french teacher said what are you going to do when you get out, when you graduate school? You know you have to pass this. What are you going to do, are you going to go to college?

And I says no, I'm going to go surfing. I'm going to the north shore, I'm going to make my pilgrimage to the north shore. I'm going to ride big waves and if I don't die then I'll figure out what I do. This is a noble thing I'm doing. I'm going there to ride big waves, to find out who I am.

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