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“If there is no enemy within, the enemies without cannot hurt you.” ~ African Proverb
It’s ten o’clock in the morning on Tuesday.
My wet board shorts and blue top dry in a flash in the scorching South Indian sun.
it’s me you feel alive and cheered up after my surf in the surreal blue, bathtub-warm Arabian Sea.
Surfing continuously has been my goal for the past two years, and I will. Which is pretty awesome considering I never thought I’d be surfing again.
The trauma and fear from a surfing accident ten years ago, which almost knocked out my teeth, remained in my body for years, and the focus of my life shifted from sports to yoga.
When I landed in Kerala, India, my intention was to do an intensive study period with my Ashtanga yoga teacher for ten weeks and then return to Rishikesh in northern India, where I had been based.
A chance invitation brought me to the seaside town where I had lived for more than two years due to the epidemic.
And there happens to be good surfing here.
My return to surfing has been slow and steady.
For my fiftieth birthday present, I gave myself ten surfing lessons.
I decided I needed to start as a beginner and took the basic lessons to get myself back into things and comfortable on a surfboard.
An Indian man in his mid-thirties who attended my surf class asked, “How old are you?”
“Fifty,” I answered.
“I hope I’m still surfing when you’re my age,” he said back.
I think he may have meant it as a compliment, but I took it self-consciously and wondered why it mattered how old I was.
It’s been two years now.
I slowly became an intermediate surfer from a beginner.
As I sipped hot chai from a Dixie cup on the side of a busy fishing village road, after a morning of surfing, an older, gray-haired Indian gentleman asked me, “How old are you?”
“Fifty-two,” I replied.
His jaw dropped and he said, “I thought you were seventy.” You have very bad skin.
Yes, this really happened.
And it happened more than once.
Every time it happened, I let it knock the wind out of my sails.
Wow, I think how can I look seventy when I feel better than twenty one?
Honestly, good skin genetics are not in my favor. My love of the sun and spending most of my life outside gave me an alligator skin.
I lied about my age until my mid-40s.
On my forty-sixth birthday, I told a woman who asked my age that I was forty. He laughed and asked if I was sixty.
But this chai boy encounter made me lie the other way.
What if I start telling these men I’m eighty-five? I thought to myself as I drove my Mahindra scooter away from the chai shop. This idea made me smile and instantly felt stronger.
Instead of being ashamed of my skin, I decided to give it back to them right away.
I no longer care what they or you think about my appearance and I put zero energy into my appearance.
It doesn’t matter to me because I feel amazing inside.
I practice the challenging middle range of Ashtanga yoga six days a week, something I never dreamed would be possible in my forties, and I surf every day.
Young Indian surfers in their twenties are now pumping their fists and saying, “You’re really surfing now and catching some big waves!”
And they stopped asking about my age.
I felt called to share this story because it got me thinking: Why aren’t they allowed to grow old?
Why is old-looking skin embarrassing?
Why can’t I have wrinkles and gray hair and own it?
This is what the body does.
He is getting old.
So why shouldn’t we look our age? Or in my case even older!
I decided to take a stand and turn the tide.
I claim my age and my place in the surf line and I speak my truth.
Aging is allowed.
About Polly Green
Polly Green is a psychic medium, spiritual coach and filmmaker who guides self-aware souls through growth and transition. She helps clients unlock old patterns, reconnect with their true essence, and feel grounded, clear, and empowered in life and work. Combining mindset shifts with spiritual tools, she supports the awakening of empaths to receive their gifts and helps those seeking comfort and connection with loved ones on the other side. Contact him Instagram, Facebookand YouTubeor visit him website.
