Almost Nothing Happens Overnight

 “...it turns out that many of today's problems are a result of yesterday's solutions.” Thomas Sowell.

None of us got soft and weak overnight, or found our houses cluttered with junk overnight, or realised our lives were riddled with complexities we are unable to solve overnight or, in any other way suddenly woke up and found life was simply intolerable in its current form. In reality, all such difficulties arose “gradually then suddenly.” But is the solution simply the problem in reverse? Gradually then suddenly everything is better? Maybe, but only if we tackle the high impact issues first.

The problem is determining what is high impact. And here the issue becomes a Möbius strip, because if we were all able to identify high impact solutions in the first place we would not end up soft, weak, cluttered, etc. etc., see paragraph one above. In all likelihood, we found ourselves soft, weak, cluttered etc. etc., because we prioritized the wrong activities first; time got away from us – a common feature in all our lives – and suddenly we were soft, weak, cluttered, etc. trying to work out how we got here.

How we got here, was gradually then suddenly, often, I think, as a result of our unconscious defense mechanisms which, by very definition are unconscious. Primitive defense mechanisms are likely not very helpful at all, but even higher level defense mechanisms may have limited utility. The biggest life hack we can make, in a world besotted with life hacks, is to prioritize the important things in life and make sure that our actions align with our beliefs. This is, as a friend of mine used to describe it, putting your big girl panties on and doing what needs to be done.

What needed to be done today was intensity training. Which do I dislike more: intensity training or distance? Gosh, it’s hard to say. Distance is painful for a long time, intensity is painful for a short time but a short time that seems like a long time when you are in it. Intensity requires longer recovery and is much more depleting than distance, but distance takes so bloody long! In any case, I went out first thing into a drizzly grey morning with no wind but a surprisingly large swell. I could not decide where to go: Black Rock, Pretty Point, the Tollgates Islands? - so I just paddled, my course at the end looking rather odd as I almost went to Black Rock, and the Tollgate Islands, and Maloneys Beach, and Snapper Island, but not really any of them.

The last kilometre, like the last repetition, the most painful but maybe the most useful, and then the slow paddle back to the beach, popping my deck before I land because there’s a big surge today and struggling to carry my boat off the beach by myself, but ultimately managing, and coming home to dry clothes and a hot coffee. Absolute bliss and the high impact activity over by 11 am.