Episode 40: How to live adventurously on your OWN terms as a mom with Pro surfer Belinda Baggs
Episode Description
Today’s guest is a lifelong surfer and soulful mama who sees surfing more as an art form than a sport. In fact, even as a single mama of her elementary aged son Rayson, she still makes sure to get in the ocean almost daily-whether it means riding a longboard, shortboard or bodysurfing. Belinda Baggs is an Australian-born disarmingly stylish water woman to the core, who formerly competed professionally (she ranked third in the world for women long boarders), but found it to be out of alignment with her souls calling to enjoy everything ocean-related. She was also the first woman to every be featured on the cover of “Surfers Journal” and if you witness her surfing in person you can see why. Leaving the competitive surfing arena was not a difficult decision for Baggs, although she loved the people she met and the places she travelled to in the process.
As a full-time mama and social media manager for Patagonia, who she is also an ambassador for, her weekdays are are filled to the brim. The beauty of working at Patagonia is sometimes she can take a “surf break” at lunch to fill her cup and replenish her thirst for the sea. She admits it isn’t easy, and that she can’t always just take her boy down to the beach with her on cold days in Victoria where they live. The weekends are where her and her son find solace either in the water, riding bikes or adventuring together outdoors.
Belinda believes in exemplifying a passionate, mindful life to Rayson and you can see he has certainly followed suit. This ten year old knows very well how to entertain himself when at the beach, or when holding his own with his mama in the water. Belinda admits being a serious surfer and a mama is sometimes challenging because she has to decide between her own surf time and her getting him into some good ones. But when he does score a good ride, there is truly nothing better than the satisfaction of experiencing that through the light in her child’s eyes. It’s almost as if the experiencing of falling in love with the ocean starts all over again.
Take-Aways:
[06:11] Belinda remembers morning sickness being alleviated by being in the water in those first few months of pregnancy.
[09:07] She definitely experienced some people who didn’t feel her choice to surf pregnant was a good one. She related this back to people telling her surfing wasn’t a “career” in her youth.
[11:43] Belinda recalls feeling vulnerable and lowered confidence when she first returned to the water as a new mama.
[19:25] Traveling with an infant is super scary! Especially doing it alone! Belinda shares her hilarious story of traveling to Jakarta with her then seven month old. (Warning: this story involves explosive diarrhea)
[27:06] Raising your children YOUR WAY and recognizing what self care means TO YOU are of the utmost importance.
[29:19] Although travel was a big part of her life with her son Rayson, she got to a point where she realized it was important for him to feel settled and safe in a home base.
[37:09] Belinda always intended to develop Rayson’s confidence at the beach and around the ocean, so he spent the majority of his life there.
[40:32] Belinda has very strict rules and guidelines for Rayson and she definitely takes safety near the ocean very seriously.
[44:54] Belinda learned the hard way that she had to ask for help after breaking her nose and blacking out while driving trying to pick up her son.
Memorable Quotes:
” It sort of brought it back to those morals where I disregarded what (naysayers) told me, because I myself knew what was right and I knew what I needed to do for me.”
“Here I was going through the Jakarta with Rayson and he had like explosive diarrhea and it’s like running out of his nappy, all over his clothing, and I’m running through the airport trying to hold him and it’s like dripping down my side. . . all while being chased by a lady like trying to feed us like fried chicken.”
” As a mom I have had to adapt new ways and a more of a regimented system, because I was seeing the whole relaxed, like ‘Oh, he can sleep wherever,’ was starting to fail.”
“If I’m happy, I want to celebrate it at the beach, and if I’m sad, being at the beach always helps.”
