Alexis Ren Shares 6 Valuable Life Lessons She Learned From Surfing

The We Are Warriors wellness community cofounder is an ocean-lover and former travel influencer.

Alexis Ren was photographed by Yu Tsai in Aruba / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Alexis Ren is passionate about wellness and being a mental health advocate. She created We Are Warriors, a virtual platform, in order to connect girls and women across the world and provide them with valuable resources like financial workshops, fitness and meditation classes, and lifestyle advice.

The 2018 SI Swimsuit model is also a former travel influencer. She first gained followers more than a decade ago after sharing tons of photos of herself on beaches and on adventures across the world. She loves the ocean, hiking and being in nature and Ren a longtime surf fanatic.

On her We Are Warriors Instagram account, the 27-year-old shared the six most valuable life lessons the water sport has taught her.

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1. “Don’t worry, there’s always going to be another wave for you to ride.”
2. “Be patient. If more waves are coming, then enjoy your time in the water and don’t worry about what you can’t control.”
3. “If you’re going for it and it doesn’t feel right, bail out. We put so much energy into a project even though there’s this gut feeling inside of us that like ‘this is not it, this does not feel right’ but because you put so much energy and effort into it, you want to see it through, even though your intuition is saying ‘it’s time to leave.’”
4. “It’s all a church—love and prayer. My surf teacher, Chris, he always used to yell ‘this is my church’ whenever we would get off into the ocean. It just reminds me that any place can be sacred if you choose it to be.”
5. “Respect the ones around you.”
6. “Don’t forget to cheer people on their waves because you know that your wave is coming, and there’s no need to be competitive.”

Ren and her cofounder, Allie Michelle, launched a wellness journal for the We Are Warriors community earlier this spring. The interactive notebook is filled with prompts to help women connect with themselves and indulge in written therapy.