Monday Moment - Against the Wind or With the Flow?

It's been quite windy in my part of the world lately. One day it might be a cool breeze from the north. Another it's a hard hot wind out of the sourth. And still another it's one of our prevailing westerlies.

I've been more aware of the wind as it's become a major factor in training for my long kayak paddle. I confess that I prefer the gentlest of breezes - just enough to make a light ripple over the water and cool me down. But that's not been the kind of weather pattern we've been having.

No the breezes we've been getting are better described as stiff - the kind that raise considerable waves! And like it or not, if I'm going to get in the kind of training I need before I set out on my 15 mile paddle the length of Canandaigua Lake, I've had to train in stiff wind.

Since there are limited places where I can put my boat in and take my boat out on our lake, that means that my training runs are always a round-trip paddle. So regardless of the wind's direction, I'm going to paddle part of the way against it and part of the way with the wiind.

Ah those metaphors for life abound - and leap into my head when I'm alone with wind and water.

What's become clear to me is that when I'm fresh, I like paddling against the wind. It's invigorating! I like the challenge, I appreciate the feel of the wind in my face and the sound of my boat slapping down into a trough of waves makes me laugh. I like the look of a wave crashing over the bow of my pretty little boat, and I imagine what it must have been like for a colonist sailing across the rough Atlantic on their way to the new world. That's all when I'm feeling fresh.

On my return leg, paddling against the wind is a tedious imposition. When I'm tired, I can really appreciate going with the wind. That's when kayaking takes on a slight resemblance to surfing. It's easier and you get further faster when you go with the flow. And last week, I also discovered that if I paddle just a little faster, it's more fun, and I get more distance from a wave that's going in my same direction.

All this wind play has reminded me that sometimes it's good to take on challenges head on - and sometimes you can get further faster just going with the flow. Neither approach works all the time, neither is inhearantly better or worse than the other - the trick is to assess the situation and my own readiness for challenge or flow. And of course to notice what hwppens when I take either approach - and be ready to change my direction accordingly.