Life and kayaking into the wind

I love kayaking in the fall.  The beautiful, colorful leaves of the trees look especially nice from the river.  The humidity is a lot less in the fall, but you still get bright sunshine.  The only thing that often comes with the sunshine is the wind.  The other day was sunny and the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees. Ah yes, but the wind was pretty fierce. Picture paddling like mad, only you’re moving backwards. Mmm, not so much fun. But, me being me, got to thinking how I could use this in a blog post. I had to do something to take my mind off the hard work!

So here’s how paddling into the wind is like life and business:

* Sometime you just have to push through, no matter how hard or uncomfortable it is. After we were paddling for a while, the wind died down and I felt great. I could feel those endorphins and I felt so accomplished and strong. All those 4 am workouts are paying off.

* You have to know when to stop and re-focus. We thought we’d go another few miles up the river, if the wind was still very strong, we were going to turn around since kayaking is supposed to be fun, not a chore. It turned out we didn’t have to turn around early since the wind died down.

* How badly do you want it? I love being out on my kayak and short of a thunder storm, I’m willing to go out in all kinds of weather. I really, really wanted to kayak on that day. It is so good for my body, mind and spirit.

* Hard work pays off in the end. One might say that I am very concerned, er obsessed, with my food intake. After paddling hard for 2.5 hours, I can pretty much eat what I want afterwards, knowing that I’ve burned off the calories. I love chicken parmesan sandwiches from our local deli. These are a special treat for me and I wouldn’t go near them if I were just sitting at home doing nothing.

So have you been kayaking into the wind lately? If so, what have you learned?

Photo is courtesy of Go Kayak Now.