🚣 Paddle Through Your Sunday Scaries

Hang on to your hats, y’all, because this edition of Combatting the Sunday Scaries is coming to you from deep in the Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness (yes, that’s the full name) up in Central Idaho. For those who may have missed the last few newsletters, I’m Angie’s husband, Jim, stepping in this week to share some reflections from a week-long river trip.

Why am I writing this, might you ask? Three reasons:

1. Angie asked me to.
2. I’m honestly not sure what day of the week it is, and this will help get me back into the swing of things after a week of zero technology/civilization/indoor plumbing.
3. A week of paddleboarding down the most remote river in the lower 48 states gives one a lot of time to reflect on the hectic, crazy lives we all lead and what can be done to improve things.

So without further ado, here are my seven microdoses of wisdom gleaned from my time on the river:

1.  Roll With the Punches

It might seem weird to start with something that seems so obvious, but when your ‘always-early-to-everything’ friend is three hours late to the put-in, and you have no way to reach them, this bit of advice will save your sanity. Especially when you still need to rig your boat, launch, and make it to your first night camp before dark.

Turns out it was a pinched nerve necessitating a hospital visit that was keeping him from getting to us. A few muscle relaxers and some opiates from the doc, and he was (almost) good as new!

👉 When things don’t go as planned, make new plans.

 2. Slow It Down

Go Go Go! seems to be the only speed our lives know nowadays, but taking that approach into the wilderness is only going to get you or someone in your group hurt or killed. 

Our crew was outfitted with maps, medical supplies, backup gear, backups to backup gear, patch kits, Garmin sat phones; all the things that could foreseeably go wrong were accounted for. And even though some of our group had been down this stretch of river before, we took the time to scout all the big rapids, because paddling into serious whitewater without a plan is a surefire way to win a Darwin Award.

👉 Do your homework, be prepared, and take into account all possibilities.

3. Know When to Pivot

Knowing when to pivot and try something new is an essential life skill. Like that time I started taking a challenging line down the river only to have the giant waves smash my paddleboard into my face. Looks like a different line is needed in the future, but hey, at least I still have all my teeth!

👉 If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to change your line and chart a new course.

4. Watch Out for Snakes

You might think this is a metaphor for something bigger in life, and in that, you would be mistaken. This is a literal ‘don’t step on the rattlesnake’ PSA, as my trip was almost cut short by doing just that. Thankfully, I saw it at the last second and averted disaster.

👉 Stay present and pay attention to your surroundings because sometimes awareness alone is what saves you from disaster.

 5. Ask Your Friends for Help

We all have people in our lives who we can count on to help out in times of need, whether it’s providing a fiberglass patch kit to fix a broken paddle (thanks, Dylan!) or keeping the garden and fruit trees alive in our absence (thanks, Angie!).

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and most importantly, don’t think you’re being a bother by doing so; we all need help sometimes.

👉 Reach out before things break and trust that the people who care about you want to show up!

 6. Roll With the Punches (Reprise)

Yes, I used this as a title for the first bit of wisdom, but it seemed oh-so-appropriate a reprise when after getting off the river our van’s engine died in the middle of freaking nowhere. It took two hours to get a tow into Boise at 1:30 am, and it turns out our driver had been up for 48 hours straight and subsisting primarily on nicotine and energy drinks.

The moral of this story? Just laugh at it and go with the flow, because as much as we’d like to control all aspects of our lives, the real truth of it is, we’re all just one dead engine away from having our plans completely blown up.

👉 Next time life throws a wrench in your plans, see if you can laugh before you do anything else. It might just save your sanity.

 7. Rinse and Repeat

While some people might not consider a week of no contact with civilization something they’d want to escape to, for me, it was an immeasurable balm for the soul. It’s something I need to keep doing regularly for my sanity (and Angie’s), so I’ve already started making plans for the next big adventure.

So whatever it is that fuels your battery and keeps you of sound mind, you need to make the time for it, and KEEP making time for it.

👉 Don’t wait until you’re running on fumes. Build your next recharge into your calendar now.

I hope one of these river lessons helps you paddle through the week ahead with a little more ease!

See You Downstream,

Jim