We all have to learn to walk at some point in our lives and I don’t mean when we are babies. What I am referring to is a point and time in everyone’s kayak career where they learn how to accept what their mind is telling them and to walk with grace. Just the other day I was telling my star point guard on our girls basketball team that we all have off days and it’s okay and today was a reminder to myself that even as adults in a silent sport such as kayaking, we all have off days. And it’s okay. Today was just that for me. But unlike a basketball game, having an off day in kayaking could be costly.
Part of maturing in the sport is learning to listen to that inner voice. Today I had that voice and while it crushed me to walk consecitive rapids, sitting in the comfort of my home now, I feel I made the right choice. Would something serious have happened to me? Unlikely. But something we don’t often times take into account is what happens to our confidence. I’d rather walk, knowing that I am doing the right thing than not listen to that voice, get my ass handed to me, and then worry about that rapid for the next 100 times I run it.
Lesson for the day: Even if it is a rapid you have run 1,000 times and have styled every time and on this particular moment your inner voice says “I’m just not feeling it,” walk. And be okay with it. It happens to the best of the best.
