Just as my days in Cairns lately have
lacked focus, so will this blog post. The heavy rains of the past
couple of weeks have interrupted my normal Cairns routine. I haven't
been out rolling the kayak, or, in fact kayaking at all since the
SUP/kayak paddle day two Sundays ago. That was also the last day I
went bouldering. Weight lifting, of course, is unaffected by wet or
dry weather and rain cannot be used as an excuse not to push hard.
Swimming hole on Stony Creek
Feeling a little stiff this morning
after yesterday's Stronglift work-out, I cycled along to Stony Creek
in Barron Gorge National Park and did the very short walk up to the
old weir on Stony Creek. I expected the water to be muddy brown as
it is everywhere else, but the creek was clear and there were lots of
nice full swimming holes along the way. I couldn't find any
information on the history of the weir on Stony Creek. There are
lots of old pipes lying along the sides of the track and a bit of
rusted old machinery up at the weir so I can only assume it was some
kind of water source for the Cairns community. I was fully doused in
layers of insect repellent expecting an onslaught of leeches, but I
neither saw nor gathered any. There is a fair bit of Dengue fever
about in Cairns right now which, if you are as attractive to
mosquitoes as I am, necessitates wearing nasty repellent pretty much
all day every day. Some days it feels as if it burning my skin off,
but I guess I prefer a chemical peel to Dengue fever.
As I was walking today I was thinking
about how important it is to see our goals in life as a process and
not an end-point. Learning to eskimo roll has taught me this more
than any other skill I have tried to master in life. Unlike skiing
or climbing or even weight training where getting better is part
participating in the sport, eskimo rolling is not something you do
for fun. You can learn to relax and not panic while you are head
down in the water with your lower torso locked into a confined space,
but you never really learn to totally enjoy the experience. When I
first started out, I thought “I'll learn to roll the boat back up
and I'll be done. Forthwith I can just get on with enjoying
paddling." But, of course, there are good days and bad days and
getting a bomb-proof roll requires continual tune-ups and seems to
me, at least at this stage, a skill which you are never really “done
with.”
Weir on Stony Creek
The New Year has spurned a lot of “get
in shape” and “lose weight” resolutions among people but I
wonder if all these folks realize that getting in shape/losing weight
is another goal that has no real endpoint. You can't work out a
certain amount and/or diet for a specified period of time reach a
point and say “right, I'm done.” Instead you have to be active
and watch what you eat every day of your life from this point forth.
The goal is not really an endpoint but
a process. Success relies on recognizing the essential nature of
these types of goals. The easiest way, of course, to move forward in
this process is to find enjoyment in the activities that move you
towards your goal. Find a way of eating that controls your hunger
and makes you feel good without feeling too deprived, and choose
fitness activities that you enjoy participating in. It will never be
a completely effortless road, just as eskimo rolling is not a fun
activity. At the end of the day you still have to get up and make
the right choices more often than you make the wrong choices and that
always involves some sacrifice and determination.
No comments:
Post a Comment