Cover photo: ISA/Franco 

It makes me deeply sad to hear Carissa talking to her little girl and telling her to have fun and not stress so much. And she finishes off by saying that she tries to be perfect even today, off the tour, with five world titles and an Olympic gold medal.

I understand that it is worthy to seek perfection when it comes to being an elite athlete. I understand that without that search it is difficult to have world titles, a successful life through sport and the sea by car.

But so much so that he lives under stress? It doesn't seem healthy. Quite the opposite, and it is one more element to understand why Carissa ended up hating the circuit and retiring at the young age of 31.

Carissa herself told me in Puerto Rico: “I can’t say that I feel totally refreshed because I am an overthinker, so I think a lot.”

And I bring up Carissa because in the end she is not the only one who goes through this and ends up either leaving or taking a sabbatical, like Steph, Filipe, Mikey and Owen Wright, Malia Manuel, Keely Andrew, among many others.

Whatever the specific reason, they must have gotten to the point where they hated competitive surfing with all that pressure on them.

It reminds me of an interview with the great and charismatic Argentine tennis player Gastón Gaudio, champion at Roland Garros 2004, in which he was asked which sport he hates the most and he replied: “Sometimes tennis.” I don’t even have to explain the example, but it seems more than clear that more than one of these kids has known how to hate surfing at some point in their career.

And well, this, which seemed like it could not happen in the romantic game with the waves that many people get upset if it is called a sport, ended up happening.

I would trade several world titles for being in the middle of the table but enjoying my life as a professional instead of suffering through it.

The other day, in another interview, Barton Lynch told DUKE that it is the best time for professional surfers to be comfortable, that he spent 15 years in which he was not in the same place for three months and that they did not make money and were alone. And now they travel with their family and a masseuse. And with all this, it is when there are more mental health problems.

Be careful, it is healthier to open up about mental health than perhaps to hide behind a brave, lying posture.

But the fun, the passion, the magic of waking up early and going into the water, sliding down the waves and sharing laughs with friends. Coming out of the water with a smile from ear to ear and already thinking about the next one. Waxing up the board dreaming about what you're going to do next.

In short, getting paid for it and making a living out of it. The key to making it work has to be that it's fun.

If it doesn't end up being the same as being a bank employee.