Either I paddle to safety, or I give up. Noticing that my heart rate was extremely high and my breathing was impaired, I sat up on my board to try to calm myself down. Breath after breath, in the powerful windy air, I started to feel better. I mustered enough courage up to start to paddle back to shore. Motivation was key, and luckily, that is one of my best attributes. I was at my favorite surfing spot ,where I always feel calm and happy. I was surfing at Mondo's right after a huge storm, which caused the ocean to be really dirty, musty, and full of dangerous riptides. I had just caught a fun wave that ended in the middle of a riptide, where I was all alone. All the other surfers were where the waves were, and I was panicking in a deep swell.
