Confessions of a Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Laughing at Myself

Hey everyone!

There’s nothing like the ocean to keep you humble.

No matter how many yoga classes you’ve taken, how strong you feel, or how zen your morning journaling routine is, get into the sea as a beginner surfer, and you’ll likely find yourself tumbling, tangled in your leash, and gasping up a nose full of saltwater while your board floats ten feet away like it wants nothing to do with you.

Welcome to the kook era.

In surf speak, a "kook" is someone who's clearly new to the waves, awkward, out of sync, probably wearing their wetsuit backwards (yes, that happens). But the word has evolved. These days, many of us are reclaiming it. A kook isn’t a failure; a kook is someone willing to try. To fall. To look a little silly while learning something new. And really, isn’t that kind of brave?

My Personal Highlights (or Lowlights?)

There was the time I nose-dived so many times in one session I lost count, headfirst into the foam like it was my job. The many times I enthusiastically paddled into a wave with all the confidence in the world… only to realise it had already passed me by. And let's not forget about the time I mistook my leash wrapping around my ankle for a jellyfish and thrashed around with panic so much it could have been a shark.

And yet, each wipeout came with something else too: laughter. That shared look with another beginner that said, “Same.” And slowly, a shift. From “I look ridiculous” to “I’m doing it anyway.”

Why Being a Kook is Kind of the Best

Surfing demands presence, patience, and a willingness to be really, really bad at something before you get even remotely good. But in a world that rewards perfection and polish, there’s something wildly liberating about choosing to be a kook. It’s an invitation to loosen your grip. To laugh at yourself. To cheer your own tiny progress.

And more than anything, it’s a reminder that growth is messy and worth celebrating anyway.

Off the Board and Into Life

The lessons from the water ripple outward. When you start embracing your kookiness in the ocean, it gets easier to embrace it everywhere else. You start to care a little less about getting it “right” and more about showing up. You try the pottery class, speak up in the meeting, say yes to things that scare you a little, in a good way.

So if you’ve ever hesitated to book the lesson, show up to a surf camp, or paddle out because you’re scared of looking silly: this one’s for you. We’ve all been the kook. We’re probably still the kook in some way or another. But we’re out here, falling forward. Laughing hard. Learning heaps.

And surely, that’s where the real magic lives.

Love,
Lindsey xx