Current mood: contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy
As I have written previously, I went on a rafting trip last weekend. A few things came to mind as I was floating, rather flailing helplessly, downstream that seemed to have greater truth. After hearing a friend share the truths she learned from her dog, I now present the truths I learned from whitewater rafting.
Participate In Your Own Recovery:
During the ‘safety’ briefing from the guide, they stressed how important it is to actually try to help save yourself. If you fall out of the raft in the rapids, you will need help to either get back into the raft or to swim towards the shore. Just because you can’t do it yourself doesn’t mean to just give up and let the current take you. Do your part! Swim towards the help. Grab the rope that the guide tosses your way. Reach towards the oar being extended from the raft. It is a shock when you fall overboard, but wake up and do something.
In recovery, once we have the realization that “okay, I can’t do this myself” there might be a tendency to say “I can’t do this at all,” which isn’t true. I have to study, talk to friends, share, take a class, go to meetings, and try. Yes, I can’t do it without help. But I don’t want to be the kind of person that asks you over to help them build a deck and then expects you to do all the work while I watch. Helping me is different from doing for me.
Quit Trying To Steer:
This was my first trip whitewater rafting. I sat in the front of the raft, since I was the heaviest. It was my job to do three things: paddle forward, paddle backwards, or stop paddling. The guide said when to do those things, and it was my job to do them. I couldn’t see in the back which way the guide was steering the raft. We learned that the safest way to go over rapids was straight ahead, not sideways. But sometimes we got turned sideways. In a panic, I had the tendency to try and paddle to get the raft turned straight ahead. The guide had other plans, though. He allowed the raft to keep turning so that we went over straight, but turned around backwards. If I had tried to steer while he was trying to turn us around, we would have cancelled each other out, gone over sideways and capsized. I had to trust that the guide knew what he was doing, had been down this river before, could see what I could not, and actually had my safety in mind.
It is a shame that I had a much easier time trusting this lunatic (see the pictures if you disagree with my description) than I do trusting God or others who care about me. I knew this guy five whole minutes before we got into a raft and went down the river.
Leave Behind What You Don’t Want To Lose:
Come to find out, people take their car keys, cell phones, and other valuables on these trips. The rafting company warned us to leave this stuff in lockers, because if you go swimming or capsize, you’ll lose this stuff in the river. Pop-A-Lock does great business up there. We were all issued gear to use for the trip, and you didn’t need anything else.
What do I need to leave behind? What am I dragging with me on this trip that is holding me back, keeping me from enjoying where I’m going, or really not that important?
and lastly,
Use The Right Equipment:
From the waiver we had to sign, whitewater rafting involves “inherent risks, dangers and hazards” and may result in “injury or illness including, but not limited to bodily injury, disease, strains, fractures, partial and/or total paralysis, death or other ailments that could cause serious disability” So, before we left, everyone was given a helmet, a flotation device, and an oar. Plus, because I knew that I would be outside, I used half of a pound of sunscreen and wore sunglasses. The guides told us how to use the equipment before we even got on the bus to go to the river. I’m a good swimmer but I knew I needed a life jacket in case I got knocked unconscious. I could see it was cloudy but I used sunscreen anyways, and I’m glad I did because the sun came out later.
How many times have I gone places I knew could be trouble? We are exposed to all sorts of tools and materials that can help us in our journey, but how many do we really use? How careful are we? Do I make my phone calls? “It’s okay, I can miss one meeting…” You know the clich, but it is overused for a reason.
Thanks for letting me share.