In rowing, as in life....
Friday, March 27, 2009 at 1:58PM I recently took rowing, or “sculling” lessons on Town Lake, oh sorry, I mean, Lady Bird Lake (sorry – Austin changed the name of the lake that I live near and while I am not one to resist change, I just can’t call it the new name – I personally don’t think landmarks should be renamed). If you are not familiar with sculling, think Oxford vs. Cambridge. It is a long skinny boat where one faces backwards, making one of the challenges of the sport craning around periodically to see where you are going. The sport, or at my level, the activity, is all that I had hoped. It is extremely beautiful and an amazing experience to row on Town, oops, Lady Bird, Lake. Though right in the middle of a city, and downtown none the less, I feel more at one with the river (actually, this lake of multiple names is a damned river), than with the city itself. The birds are my companions and not the people who are circumventing via the path that surrounds us. The cranes and other wildlife that are hiding below the brush peek out at me – but are never to be seen by those above. We share secrets that neither one of us will tell. I am now to a point where I don’t have to worry about falling over, so I have been able to contemplate life while skimming over the surface of this water world. Through my contemplations, I have realized that sculling is like a big life lesson, wrapped up in one sport. I will save you the sculling lessons (though I do recommend it), and share with you the gentle life reminders that the sport has brought to me. You can start out each sentence with either “In sculling”, or, “In life”... (just remember that peeking over your shoulder, here, is actually looking forward)
- ...you can not see where you are going, but only where you have been.
- ...where you have been does not guide you to where you are going.
- ...you need to peek over your shoulder periodically and make corrections in your path to get where you want to go.
- ...if you don’t peek over your shoulder periodically, you will run into things and end up in a bit of a mess. You may hurt yourself or others.
- ...when you go off course, you can always get back on course. Sometimes it’s more difficult than others. Sometimes you might even need some help.
- ...if you spend all of your time peeking over your shoulder, you don’t really get anywhere.
- ...if you spend no time peeking over your shoulder, see #4
- ...even when you do stay your course, little adjustments are always needed.
- ...sometimes it is very bright. Sometimes it is very cloudy. Both are extremely beautiful.
- ...shallow is not safer.
Reader Comments