The In-Between

Bells Beach, Point Break, And Choosing True Over Safe

March 12, 2026·1 min read

Made it to Bells Beach, Victoria. Bucket list.

Takeaways

"Choosing true over safe" is a guiding principle for navigating life's decisions, both big and small, as inspired by the movie Point Break.
Embracing the harder path in professional interactions, like client calls or internal meetings, can lead to more authentic and impactful outcomes.
Building a company or pursuing a personal vision based on one's convictions, rather than conventional wisdom, fosters genuine innovation and fulfillment.
The immediate costs of choosing truth may be visible, but they are often less detrimental than the subtle, long-term costs of consistently opting for safety.
Experiencing significant locations, like Bells Beach, can powerfully underscore personal philosophies and movie-inspired lessons, making them more tangible than fictional narratives alone.

This is where Point Break filmed Bodhi's final wave.

It's one of my favorite movies, and it shaped who I am more than I realized.

Choosing what's true over what's safe has stayed with me, and being here puts that in perspective.

That line is the one I keep coming back to.

Not in some big dramatic way. In small ones.

Taking the harder path on a client call instead of the smoother one. Saying the thing in the room instead of the comfortable version of it. Building a company the way I think it should be built instead of the way the playbook says.

Bodhi paid for that choice. Most of us pay smaller versions of it every week.

But the cost of always choosing safe is bigger than the cost of choosing true. It's just paid quietly, over a longer timeline, where nobody films it.

Standing at Bells Beach made that obvious in a way the movie never could.

“Safe is a slow leak. True is a hard call you only have to make once.”

Bells Beach, Point Break, And Choosing True Over Safe

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