“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought. Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?” — Rumi
Hey friend, before you jump to the next thing on your list, before you check your phone again, let’s pause here together for a moment. You don’t need to fix anything right now. You don’t need to figure it all out. Just this breath, just this second, is enough.
The world moves fast, and it feels like you have to move just as fast. But right now, you get to rest. Notice your breath. Feel your body. Look around. Even for a minute, you are allowing your mind and heart to catch up.
This is mindfulness without effort. It’s a reminder that you don’t need a perfect meditation routine or a quiet room to be present. Every small pause counts. Every second you give yourself is a gift.
When you’re ready, you can go back to your day. But take a piece of this calm with you. The world can wait a little longer, and your mind will thank you for it.
Think multitasking makes you more productive? Think again. Here’s how switching between tasks is rewiring your brain, lowering focus, and raising stress (and how you can fix it, too).
Let’s be honest.
You probably have five tabs open right now. Maybe a podcast is playing in the background. Maybe you’re half-texting someone.
It feels like you’re getting a lot done, right? Like you’re maximizing your time. But here’s the truth: multitasking isn’t helping you. It’s actually training your brain to lose focus, remember less, and crave constant distraction.
Let’s unpack that quickly.
The Multitasking Myth
You’re not really multitasking. You’re task-switching. Every time you jump from one thing to another, your brain has to pause and reset.
Those tiny switches might only take a second, but they add up. Research shows that constant task-switching can slash productivity by up to 40%.
It’s like trying to run a marathon while stopping to tie your shoes every ten seconds.
What It’s Doing to Your Brain
Here’s where it gets wild. Multitasking physically changes your brain.
Less gray matter: Brain scans show that people who multitask a lot have less gray matter in the part of the brain responsible for focus and emotional control.
Worse memory: You’re training your mind to chase what’s new instead of digging deep into what matters.
More stress: Jumping between tasks keeps your brain in “fight or flight” mode. Cortisol (your stress hormone) stays high, and that drains your energy fast.
So yes, multitasking might make you feel busy, but it’s also reshaping your brain in ways that make it harder to focus later.
How To Reboot Your Focus
Good news is, your brain can rewire itself back.
Try these simple fixes:
Do one thing at a time. Close your extra tabs. Finish a task completely before moving to the next one.
Batch your distractions. Set times to check texts or emails instead of reacting all day long.
Practice deep work. Start with 20 minutes of uninterrupted focus. Add time as your brain adjusts.
Let yourself be bored. Boredom isn’t bad. It’s where creativity and clarity show up.
The Bottom Line
Multitasking isn’t a badge of honor. It’s a brain trap. The more you split your attention, the more your brain adapts to distraction.
If you want to think clearly, remember more, and actually finish what you start, then do one thing at a time.
“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, how we’re always doing something. Scrolling, replying, running errands, checking notifications, planning the next step in our lives. There are no breaks in the modern way of life. Sometimes even when we try to slow down, our minds are still running at the same speed.
The weird part? Most of the time, I don’t even know what I’m chasing. This feeling is probably universal, right? (unless you’re totally unhinged, in which case… congrats?) Like you’re ticking off boxes, but you’re not sure where that list came from in the first place?
The other night I sat on my porch just for a few minutes with no phone, no agenda. Just sitting. I noticed the wind in the trees, a neighbor’s dog barking, the way the air felt a little cooler than usual. It wasn’t dramatic. No thunderbolt revelations. But I felt present in a such a way that it was almost a miracle.
Moments like those have made me realize that we were never built to be machines.
Yes, working hard has it’s place. But not all the time.
And definitely not at the cost of being alive to your own life.
I’ve made an effort to treat slower days and slower moments as the essential times they are. The little things, those things that give life its flavor (like smiling at someone in the morning, or the way your tea smells, or the color of the sky) are just as much a part of life as the big things we constantly chase.
The slow moments are where you digest the rest of your life.
So next time you’re wondering what to do, consider:
One morning during a quiet surf session, one man stood out from the rest. He had a long, white, Gandalf-esque beard that dripped with seawater. Despite being more than 65 years old, he took waves with a grace that could only be mastered with years of his craft. And from that moment on, he was known to me as the legendary Santa Claus of the Sea.
He was graceful. But this image stands in stark contrast to the current dominant narrative of aging.
The Reality of Aging: Physical and Psychological Ailments
Many health professionals are familiar with the list of common aging-related challenges, including:
Sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss)
Impaired balance and proprioception
Increased risk of falls and fractures
Joint degeneration
Reduced cardiovascular endurance
Alongside these physiological changes, we see a rise in mental health challenges:
Social isolation
Depression
Loss of autonomy and identity
Cognitive decline
These factors compound each other. For example, a loss of balance leads to a fall, which results in injury, which leads to hospitalization, immobility, and sometimes institutionalization, which all accelerate decline.
Modern rehabilitation techniques try to interrupt this cycle, but traditional therapy methods, particularly in geriatric care, often rely on repetitive, low-engagement exercises: resistance bands, parallel bars, leg lifts in clinics. These are essential in many cases, but they’re not enough. My grandma was prescribed chair exercises, but I want her to be able to strengthen herself in practical ways.
Adherence is a chronic challenge. Motivation wanes. And much too often, patients disengage.
So what if we reframed therapy? What if we made it joyful?
Surf and Ocean Therapy: Reconnecting Mind, Body, and Environment
Surf therapy is a movement-based, nature-integrated intervention that merges physical rehabilitation with emotional renewal.
It may sound radical, even niche, but it can gain traction for good reason.
Surfing involves:
Dynamic balance — reacting to ever-changing surfaces
Core and limb strength — paddling, popping up, stabilizing
Coordination and reaction time — reading waves, adjusting positions
Cardiovascular exertion
Mental presence — engaging with unpredictability in real time
All of this takes place in a natural environment that stimulates the senses and evokes meaning: the ocean. The ocean is something that soothes the mind, the beach a bonding place for communities, and the water something that reminds people — especially older adults — that they are still capable and evolving.
Evidence Supporting Surf Therapy for Older Adults
Though still an emerging field, several pilot programs and studies are showing promising results — not only for youth and veterans, but also for older adults and people living with chronic conditions.
A few key findings:
Balance & Mobility: A 2019 study on ocean-based activities for older adults found significant improvements in static and dynamic balance over 12 weeks. Gains persisted at a 3-month follow-up.
Mood & Depression: Programs like Waves for Change and Ocean Therapy for Veterans report measurable decreases in depression and anxiety after just 4–6 weeks of sessions.
Social Connection: Group surf sessions foster community — essential for reducing isolation, a major risk factor for early mortality.
Self-Efficacy: Participants describe a new identity: not as “patients,” but as athletes, learners, or adventurers.
In this way, movement that is meaningful is more sustainable than movement that is merely prescribed.
“But Is It Safe?” — Managing Risks with Realism and Responsibility
“Isn’t surfing dangerous for older adults?”
Yes — and no.
All physical activity carries some level of risk. But so does inactivity.
In fact, sedentarism is one of the most dangerous behaviors for aging adults, associated with:
Heart disease and stroke
Type 2 diabetes
Depression
Cognitive decline
Frailty and loss of independence
Surf therapy programs reduce risk by including:
Soft-top boards and padded equipment
Shallow-water options and beach-based sessions
Certified adaptive surf instructors
Physical therapists on-site or in collaboration
Buoyancy aids and wetsuits
Environmental checks (tides, weather, currents)
Gradual progression, from tide pool to open ocean
Most participants start slowly: learning to float, sit on the board, or wade safely. Athleticism isn’t required. Just reconnecting with movement, shedding fear of it, and being open to growing from unfamiliar experiences.
Surf therapy doesn’t replace traditional rehab. It complements it by giving people a reason to get stronger. And even if it’s not surfing specifically, being outside and in the elements is the reward in it of itself.
Beyond the Clinic: Reimagining Geriatric Therapy
The big idea is this:
Therapy doesn’t have to feel like therapy.
It can feel like joy. Like renewal. Like living again.
Healthy movement shouldn’t be limited to lifelong athletes. The myth that older adults are fragile, disinterested, or unwilling is just that — a myth.
The Santa Claus of the Sea isn’t just a surfer. He’s a living contradiction to our ageist expectations.
So understanding that movement if life at any age, we must devise better plans for maintaining movement in seniors. And we can start by inviting more of our elders into the water.
I can start with the biggest lie I’ve ever been told.
“It’s not that simple.”
I believed it. Whenever I told my peers I wanted to start something new – do better in class, start writing poetry, pick up boxing, start learning guitar – the one phrase that always cut through was:
“It’s not that simple.”
But today, I want to tell you something different.
The best piece of advice I have ever received is this:
It’s always that simple.
I love to overcomplicate things. I bet you do, too. We create mental barriers as excuses to validate our inability to accomplish our goals. We tell ourselves that it’s complicated, our timing’s off, or we’re not ready. But in reality, they’re excuses disguised as logic. Sometimes, we even adapt to our inability to adapt, and in doing so, we stay stuck in places we don’t want to be.
But being stuck is not a failure. It’s a starting point. And you can choose where you want to go from there.
Because it really is that simple.
Yes, doing things you’re not used to is scary. Heck, it scares me, and it probably scares everyone.
The consistent discipline it takes to accomplish your greatest desires, to ascend, to have the authority to dream big – that’s difficult. But when it comes down to knowing what needs to be done, your brain will always know.
The first step, the next step, the final step – it’s all one, and it’s always within you.
You don’t need a hundred tutorials. You don’t need motivational videos on loop. You don’t need anyone to give you permission.
Everything you need is already there.
Yes, it’s going to be hard, and you’ll have to give more than you’ve ever given before.
Mason Lai 