River Wisdom

"Where your attention goes, energy flows. If you look at the rock, you're going to hit the rock."

~ Every river guide I've ever met

Hello, Dear Ones, 

I’m home after several weeks of travel and adventure that have filled my soul with joy, peace, and love. It wasn’t perfect, as travel never is, but I was able to be present in what I was doing and with the incredible humans I was able to spend time with. That’s all I can ask for. 

Now, I’m feeling ready for a period of deep reflection and rest. 

I learned so much on this trip about myself and the connections I made validated I am on the right path, which, if I’m honest, feels great and scary at the same time. 

One of the last parts of this long trip was volunteering in North Carolina for the organization First Descents. I’ve shared some of their information before, but you can find more details about this amazing organization here. 

As part of the week with First Descents, we take the participants, (the week I volunteered was an all-female diverse group of healthcare workers!) out on the lake and river to learn to whitewater kayak. This wasn’t my first time on the river, though I have to say I am always surprised at how much I learn about life and myself on every river adventure. 

On the last day of the week, I was paddling in a double duckie boat, which is an inflatable small raft, with one of the participants. For some reason when we started out the day, we were spinning and struggling to control our boat. It felt like chaos trying to get down the river in the direction we wanted to go. 

Then one of the guides we were with gave us some tips on the different paddling roles in our respective places in the boat, and after a couple of minutes we figured it out. The rest of our day on the river was absolute magic. 

What had been happening when we were in chaos was that we were working too hard to try to control the boat heading down the river. We paddled so hard and fierce, approaching the experience the way we both approach life: dig in deep and paddle hard. 

In reality, what we needed to do was to surrender to the flow of the river. We needed to paddle much more gently than we were, and all I should have been doing in the back of the boat was using my paddle to steer, again gently and using a kind of negative force. 

At the end of the day, I kept thinking about how this felt like a metaphor for life. Sometimes we work so hard to control certain aspects of our lives and the outcomes. I wonder what would happen if we surrendered to the chaotic flow, gently paddling to keep momentum, or correcting course when needed. 

I’m going to be reflecting on this question for a bit, and I invite you to do the same: 

Is there an area of my life that I am working hard to try and control? What would happen if I allowed this area to flow naturally without so much interference or effort? 

I hope this message finds you well, dear reader, and I would love to know what your thoughts are on this reflection. Please feel free to pop a comment below or respond to this e-mail. 

If you’re interested in talking more about this topic, or what I do as a Health and Wellness coach, connect with me here. Thank you for being here with me and allowing me to be a part of your journey. I’m here for you, and I see you.

With love and kindness,

Jessica

P.S. 

The fun thing I am doing to take care of myself right now is napping! Power naps have been a theme over the past several weeks to help me stay rested and energized for all of my activities. I love naps, and think we should all give ourselves permission for 20-30 minute naps as often as possible :) 

Happy napping friends!