1 Week Kayak Camping Opportunity!

Just a couple days ago, the "stars aligned", and gave me a tremendous opportunity to join a fellow youtuber, kayaker, and camper. This individual, who we will keep secret for the time, relentlessly contacted me about going on this trip. From the start I wanted to go, but too many uncertainties, and concerns mounted several hurdles in my way. From what would have been a 14 hour drive, through big cities, it has now been narrowed to a 3 hour flight! This person also decided to provide me a kayak, since I obviously can't take that as "carry on" during my flight. He is going to house me, as well as pick me up from the airport and drop me off. This is an incredible act of generosity.

He promises this trip will change a lot of things about my outlook on being in the outdoors, and cripple some of the fear I have when camping and kayaking. I can't thank the person enough, and I am extremely excited! According to him, I will be talking about this trip for the next 5 years. I believe it! It will be a small and large group of us going. I will be flying halfway across the states to make it happen. You bet I'm a little nervous, but then again I don't know how much is excitement and how much is apprehension, but the truth is, I'm not getting any younger! I NEED to take these steps, my progress needs to grow much quicker than it is. When this guy chatted with me (and you will see here in a minute) it is clear how much time he took to encourage me to go on this trip. In his messages were many nuggets of truth. All of what he said resonated with me, and I'm pretty sure he was dead on. Let me share part of this message with everyone. Check this out!! For some of you, it may seem lengthy, but remember that displays the sincerity behind it all.

"Exactly. I only told you about myself for the sole purpose of juxtaposing where you are currently with where I am. From what I see, you don't have a phobia of a certain thing. Your fear is born of the unknown...and that can be worse as it cannot be avoided like you could something in particular. I threw all that out about myself to show there is little unknown left for me as far as the outdoors goes...and that started as a small boy for me.

There is always something new to experience, to see, to return to. But nature and the outdoors is simply awesome and very predictably unpredictable. It is a framework that repeats even though the ingredients are sometimes very different. As much as is new and different, is a recognizable pattern of something you have seen before. Once you begin to understand how it all works, it is much easier to navigate both physically and mentally. I am merely offering my experience, confidence, knowledge etc as a platform to fast-track your progress. This group would be perfect for doing that.

The experiences you will gain and the stories and tricks of the trade will all start tipping the scales from fear to confidence. You can assign blame if you like, sometimes it helps sort things out. However, that is retrospect and only viable for helping to explain how or why you got to where you are now. The way forward has nothing to do with blame or the past. When in land navigation, you make an assessment, find your location, develop your destination and plot your course. After plotting your course, you can no longer focus on where you are as it is of no value to where you are going. The focus must be entirely on your destination. What is the next step, what is my next landmark, which way am I going, How long should it take me to get there, What do I expect to see along the way, who can help me get there, what should I avoid on the way. - All focussed on the future.

Only one person can stop you from getting there, and that is you. I see a LOT of progress in you through your vids and blog. What I am offering is a helping hand as one who has a lot of the outward answers that you are looking for. The inner journey is your own. Sometimes that inner journey is nearly impossible without help on the outside. You have done a lot on your own and that is admirable and further than most people are willing to go. It is what we call an indicator. It shows you have the drive to do this. Lets look at the journey thus far. Steps 1 and 2 are mental and step 3 is mental and physical. Step 1. figure out where you are. You know where you are! When you are lost, you cannot know which way to go without knowing where you are. Where are you? You are not comfortable in the outdoors and it is manifesting in fear. You know this. Step 1 is done. Step 2 know the destination. You have found that too! You want to be comfortable in the outdoors. You want to take your kids out camping etc...You want to shed this fear. Now you have to get there. Step 3 is harder.

There are other indicators as well. I see one I think...I think you are stuck in time right now because of the experience you had last time and not wanting to repeat parts of that it in fear of losing the desire to keep pressing forward. Inactivity is the indicator. Moving into another hobby, giving this one up, things like that would show you have put aside the drive to press through. Time to get back on that horse and ride boss. This time you don't ride alone. Save that step for later. Get the love of adventure and the outdoors back to the forefront without that turmoil. Go see what if feels like to totally enjoy nature. No need to give a man a compass show him where he is at and where he needs to go and then hope he gets there. How about some lessons in navigation first, some trial and error with a backstop of instruction that will keep you on course. Lets take a lot of the unknowns out of the picture. Lets go get experienced, learn the ropes, hear the funny stories, the scary ones, the miserable ones, see the sights, smell the smells, hear the sounds. Build your own bank of experiences.

Get all that under your belt so that the only unknown left is how awesome it feels when you can enjoy doing it alone. I think you bit off more than you needed to chew the first time...How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time...and with friends! Land navigation is a metaphor for life, as is Kayaking a river. I am very good at both of these things and have taught them to all levels of outdoorsmen for years. I have taken complete newbies into the mountains to teach land nav and camping and the lessons learned are quick and easy and build on themselves. You start out slow and broad and then work in the details later. I have taught kayaking, camping, bushcraft, fieldcraft, all sorts of things. What I have found is that I am teaching confidence as much as expertise. expertise comes through experience. confidence makes experiences pleasurable. good experience creates more confidence. Bad experiences shake confidence. Being prepared makes otherwise bad experiences good.

You cannot expect to have a good experience when you are not prepared mentally and physically. I think you are going about it wrong. The natural step is admittedly to have had a dad or someone experienced that would take you when you were young. That natural first step has never been taken. sooooo..... Here is your therapy right here! Lets back up and go get some experience and confidence that will allow you to pursue this venture in a more satisfying and fulfilling way! Fear had up to this point become the focus again. It is the primary reason you are not moving forward. Cast it aside and focus on the adventure, the planning, the decisions on gear, the anticipation of doing something big and adventurous that most will never do. The fear may linger, but don't let it be the focus. Everytime you feel it turn it into an excitement that propels you forward. This will be fun! Buck up soldier! You got a war to fight. Nobody else expects you to fight it alone. Don't expect it of yourself."

No doubt this will also encourage others so I had to share! I'll keep ya'll updated!!