lessons on feeling and paddle boarding

 

 

I took this week as a belated "summer break," and I spent most of my time out on a paddle board on the ocean. Over the week, as I improved my paddle boarding skills, I had a lot of time to feel. And I found that those two actions - paddle boarding and feeling - had a lot in common each other. I learned: 

The waves don’t rock you so much if you take them head on.

 

If they do rock you, you still usually don’t fall off. 

 

If you do fall off, you can just get back on. 

 

If you can’t get back on, you can swim. 

 

You don’t have to be afraid. 

So my hope that my love for paddle boarding - which is so much a love for the adventure and instability of it - will encourage me to embrace the waves of emotions as well. They come and they go, and I will come out the other side of them. It makes sense to be afraid when we start off, but we will learn as we go. We don't have to be afraid of the waves.