WHAT MATTERS

TO FIND YOUR PASSION, YOU HAVE TO
LOOK INWARD. IF YOU LOOK OUTWARD,
ALL YOU’LL SEE IS WHAT OTHER PEOPLE
ARE DOING. YOU’RE NOT OTHER PEOPLE.

ONE SET OF FOOTPRINTS I remember when I was a kid growing up in Kauai, a teacher asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Obviously, she didn’t like my answer (to surf) because I also remember her shaking her head and telling me, “You can’t eat your surfboard.” Well, I’ve been doing that for a while now, and at this point it tastes pretty good. Maybe she was waiting for me to say, “Oh, you’re right. I’ll be a lawyer.” That would have been a very long wait.

The point is: Your path is yours alone. And if it’s the path less traveled, that’s absolutely fine. The world doesn’t need more conformists. The world needs more people who create and question and search. If you don’t fit in, celebrate that, and then get ready to stand your ground. Our society has some rigid roles for people, and when you decide that you don’t want to play the same game as everyone else, you might not get much support for your decision. Don’t let that discourage you. The best way to find your path is to start with a dream and then refuse to listen to anyone else’s opinions about what you “can” and “can’t” do in pursuit of that dream.

My spiritual beliefs have helped me walk the path that I knew I needed to be on. I’ve been reading the Bible since I was 16, when I first discovered it (through a girl I was dating—how else?). I’ve always found something golden and truthful in its pages. That doesn’t mean I’m running around pushing it on other people or saying, “Why aren’t you in church?” Ultimately, my belief is that there’s a bigger belief than any single religion contains. Most intelligent people I’ve met believe in something larger than themselves. They might not call it God or Buddha or Muhammad; they might say it’s the oceans or the trillions of stars in the sky. But aside from haggling over the description and the name and the title, we realize that there’s something going on that orchestrated all of this and that we’re not just here as a matter of coincidence. Whatever you believe in, let that be your source of strength.

I believe that our imagination is our connection to higher knowledge. It’s the most formidable tool that we have, an amazing source of inspiration. And then, of course, there’s the world we live in, which is no slouch in that area, either. What we’ve been given here is precious: majestic in its smallest details and its grandest spectacles. Anytime you feel like you’re in danger of forgetting that, I recommend taking a good look at a 50-foot wave. Anyone who can be around something that powerful and not feel humbled has some serious analyzing to do. You can’t deny the spiritual world when you’re staring into its eyes.