So, I've been thinking a lot about kayaking lately. For no particular reason really, I've just been considering the question most people ask me: "Why do you kayak?" To them, well, it looks like about the most frightening thing a person could do. I don't know if that is the case, cause I can think of a lot scarier things a person could do. Now, I'm not going to say that I don't feel fear when I slip into my boat and let the current pull me down stream. Heck, since my swim on the Hood in January, I've had more than my share of fear. That said, fear is a part of life. In proper amounts, it can be health and protect us (seriously, for untold generations it has kept us humans out the mouths of any number of creatures). I do believe that you have to learn to handle your fear and channel it into something that guides you through the type of adventures that bring it about. I recently read a quote by Susan Jeffers that, I think, sums it up nicely:
"We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a
companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures."
So, why do I paddle... hard to tell. There is a certain part of me that needs the adventure that kayaking brings and, maybe, that same part needs to feel that primal fear that accompanies such adventure. Then again, maybe I just like being a enigma to people.
Until next time...
j
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