“The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun.”
Florida
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
Believe you can and you're halfway there. Theodore Roosevelt
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. Maya Angelou
Take life one step at a time, and enjoy every second of the walk.
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. Edith Wharton
http://www.jackbatesphotography.com/
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
The best things in life come from having fun. That is what life is about, to do things that make you happy. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t good at something, if you completely terrible at it even! If your having fun, who cares?
I have always loved surfing, the idea of it, the story behind it, the symbolic meaning of it. But I’m not the best at it, far from it! I fall and tumble all the time, but its fun, it makes me happy and to me thats what counts most. So do what makes you happy, if you want to try surfing and your afraid to embarrass your self, shake it off! If you want to try underwater modeling, or even learn to swim, do it!
The first time I swam with sting rays I was terrified! I was shaking, but I was also so excited! They ended up being some of the sweetest creatures I have ever met in the ocean, and it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.
When I started swimming with sharks I would always have visions of them during around and eating me alive, but swimming along side them and seeing them up close made me realize that if you give an animal respect and love they will give you the same. It ended up being another amazing experience and memory.
The first time I saw a manatee I think I was 10 years old, they were huge compared to me and I thought they were hurt me if I got anywhere near them. But when I finally did get it, she came up to me and was the sweetest thing, nuzzle me, rolling over, pulling me on her back. Manatees are some of the gentlest and most playful creatures in the sea.
Sometimes things that appear big and scary are things that aren’t scary at all. Ocean creatures are killed more by humans than humans are killed by them. Only 17 people have been killed by sting rays, and it was all from human cause, either a person spooked them or provoked them and this is what caused them to lash out. Dolphins are mass massacred every year in Japan for they meat, while sharks are having their fins cut off for soups and then thrown back in the water either to die slowly or to be eaten by something else.
The only regrets you can have in life is not doing something because your scared of it, so do what makes you scared because maybe one day you will look back at it as being one of the best experiences of your life.
Dresses by the Beautiful and Amazing Melissa Kritsotakis
http://www.melissakritsotakis.com/