The French media called it “La Belle Recidive” (the beautiful recurrence), but for surfer Carissa Moore the return to the winner’s place on the podium symbolized so much more than that.

Winning the Roxy Pro France earlier this month was, in many ways, the successful culmination of almost a year-long process of rediscovery for the three-time world champion.

Before she turned 25 this summer Moore already had 18 World Surfing League tour titles, a place in the Surfing Hall of Fame and more than $1 million in winnings.

Victory had come early and often for the Punahou School graduate raised in Oahu’s waves. And expectations mounted.

But in the midst of the second-longest victory “slump” — nine events without a win — of her eight years on tour, Moore discovered that to win again, she had to learn how to lose. Or, at least, how to handle competing hard and losing.

In seven previous years on tour she had never finished lower than third in the final standings. But this year, heading into the eighth of 10 events, she was struggling to stay in the top 10 and had not gotten past the quarterfinals in any event. The specter of re-qualification loomed.

“This is my eighth year on tour. I absolutely love what I do, but I was really struggling to find the motivation to compete as intensely,” Moore said in an email interview with the Star-Advertiser. “And, then, as I started to not do well I had to deal with how to validate myself when the results aren’t there. The two (put together) were really challenging.”

Her father and coach, Chris, said, he and his daughter had, “been working on adjusting her perspective when it comes to experiencing competition and embracing with feeling the raw emotions and nerves that are often uncomfortable but come with the territory, so to speak.”

After losing to Lakey Peterson in a quarterfinal at the Swatch Pro at Trestles, Carissa, in a Sept. 14 posting titled, “Gratitude” wrote on her website, “What can I say? Today’s result stings. I’m sitting in my room trying to process the events. I’m my harshest critic. I spend way too much time overthinking and overanalyzing every little thing and that usually takes me to a pretty dark place.”

She added, “One of the quotes I’ve read recently is: ‘You can’t keep doing the same things and expect a different result.’ So, instead of choosing negativity and questioning everything like I’ve done the past six events, I’m going to choose gratitude.”

She thanked her family, friends and the opportunities she has had and reflected an appreciation for all that surrounds her, including a December wedding to high school sweetheart Luke Untermann.

In the following event in Portugal she finished second, her highest placing since the 2016 Roxy Pro France.

“The biggest difference for me was just feeling at peace with myself and my situation,” Carissa told the Star-Advertiser. “(Just) letting go of all the pressures and expectations, embracing the uncertainty and having more fun. Looking at things from a place of gratitude really helped me turn things around.”

In France, where she had last won in 2016, it came together as she beat Peterson for the title. But not before testing her resolve, as she had to go through all seven possible heats.

Currently fourth in the ranking heading to Maui next month for the final event, there is a longshot chance at a fourth world title. But Carissa notes, “There is so much out of my control that I just want to focus on putting on a strong performance and having a good time. Let the chips fall as they may.”

Carissa said, “I have learned a lot about letting things go, embracing the unknown and trusting the process. I have learned that I can be my biggest enemy but also my biggest hero. I have learned what makes me happy and how to validate myself when results don’t.”