Wave Chats & Comebacks: Surfing Through Self-Doubt

Yesterday I was out surfing with a dear friend. The sun was glowing, the water warm, and the waves were playful but powerful. As we paddled out, she shared that she’d had a tough year with surfing—and just last week, she took a scary wipeout on a heavy wave at a local break. She went under with her mouth open, took in water, and came up shaken. Physically she was okay. But emotionally? It rattled her. Deep.

We sat on our boards, side by side, letting the ocean hold us. Watching the sets roll in. Reading the water. Listening. She was hesitant, unsure if she wanted to paddle for anything. And I got it. That fear, that voice of doubt, it creeps in so fast.

But after a while, something shifted. She saw a clean, mid-sized left coming through. She turned, paddled, and rode it all the way in. Graceful. Strong. The kind of wave that puts wind back in your sails.

In the water, we talked about how just one setback can shake your confidence. One scary moment, one crash, one fall—and suddenly you’re questioning everything. Surfing mirrors life that way. We hit a roadblock, we get hurt, we start to pull back. We stay where it's safe. We forget what we're capable of.

But here’s the truth: we don’t grow by staying in our comfort zones. We grow by trying. By showing up again. By failing and then saying, "okay, let's go again."

That’s why supporting women's confidence matters so deeply to me.

Because confidence isn’t about never falling. It’s about getting back up. It’s about standing in the face of fear and choosing to believe in yourself anyway. It's about community—sitting beside another woman in the waves and saying, "I've been there too. You've got this."

At Radiate and Ride, this is the heartbeat of everything we do. These wave chats and comebacks are the magic. We create space for women to reconnect to their courage, their strength, and their joy. We surf, we fall, we rise. We hold each other through the wipeouts and celebrate every ride.

Because the world doesn’t need more perfect women. It needs more confident women.

Women who try. Women who trust. Women who rise.

💞 Lizzy