JackieAdams-Blog-1

I started thinking about writing a blog and was waiting for inspiration...funnily enough it came while I was kayaking 15km down the River Orb in France.

Now, believe me, I’m not a kayaker, and neither am I the adventurous type.

We were on holiday recently and I was persuaded to do the 15km route by comments like “we did 5km last time” yes but it was 8 years ago and was the only time I had kayaked in my life. And “well we could do the 10km, but we may as well do the 15km as it only costs a few Euros more than the 10k”. I decided to get a grip and get on with it!

So instead of spending the 3hrs and 20mins thinking about how scared I was (and the “slightly tricky rapids” were, in my book very, very tricky), I decided to put the experience to good use.

Here are my reflections:

  1. Not being able to see where the river was going. If you are like me and need to be able to see where you are going, realise, sometimes you just can’t. You need to accept that you are out of your comfort zone.
  2. Getting stuck on rocks that you didn’t see. Sometimes there are obstacles in life that you don’t anticipate – they just arrive, so navigate around them in any way you can and carry on.
  3. Very scary rapids. You just have to take a deep breath and get on with it, because there really is no way back. You just have to go with the flow, which can sometimes be at great speed.
  4. Knowing the person behind you in the kayak would be able to get you out of trouble. Sometimes you need to put your trust in others.
  5. It was a really hard 3hrs and 20 minutes. When you know life is going to be hard, you need to focus, and get on with it; try and enjoy “being in the moment” (even when you are scared to death!).
  6. And when it is all over…….acknowledge your achievement, be the first to congratulate yourself and give yourself a big pat on the back.

So that is how I survived the trip – if you are having any of these issues in your life (not necessarily on the River Orb in France), and need some help, maybe coaching is the answer – please get in contact with me.

Next episode – coming soon.