Every spring my buddy Andy and I teach a beginner’s kayaking class for the school he works for. It’s usually a small class of high school students. Our class begins in a pool, where we don’t have to worry about cold/moving water, and we can keep an eye on everybody. We start out by teaching them how to use the gear, then talk about how to get out of the kayak once they flip over–and it’s inevitable! Everybody flips at some point, and we want to make sure that they know how to exit the kayak safely. For some of them, being upside-down in the water, held in the kayak by the sprayskirt is too much. But most of them have no problem with that at all. After we’ve got that mastered, we have them practice paddling in a straight line, which is a little more difficult than it sounds! Eventually, we get to the point where we’re talking about the kayak roll.
Yesterday was our second class. 2 of the guys were in the boats for their second day, and we had 2 first-timers (another guy and a girl). Toward the middle of our session in the pool, I started working with the “experienced” students on their roll. One of the guys got the idea right off the bat, and rolled up on his second try! The other young man struggle mightily. He couldn’t translate what I was saying to his muscle movement, and spent quite a bit of time underwater. With about 5 minutes left in the pool, I had him try my handpaddles, explained the handpaddle roll to him, and let him take a shot. Boom! He rolled right up! His persistence paid off, and he headed home with a little spring in his step!
I think there’s some lessons that get learned in the kayaks that apply to life. We talk about controlling and overcoming our fears, the importance of a buddy watching your back, the willingness to risk/try something new, the practice of persistence, and the value in measuring your success/progress against yourself, not others. These newbie kayakers have to take the information that they’re given and implement it in realtime. But one of the first lessons that they learn along the way is that they don’t know everything. They’re in a somewhat familiar environment (pool/lake/creek) but they’re trying new things. If they come with the attitude that they know how to do it all, they won’t have much fun–they’ll end up swimming more than kayaking! But once they come to the place where they can admit “I don’t know” and ask for help, things start to open up for them.
Humility and a teachable spirit are key components to learning new things. God places a high value on those characteristics. And more than once we’ve seen people who refuse to be humble struggling to get through the day (on the river, and in life), humiliated by life.
It seems like a no brainer to me: humility vs humiliation…
What’s the most recent new thing that you’ve learned?
Have you ever been humiliated because you weren’t humble?
Do you want to learn to kayak? 🙂
Leave me a comment, and let’s chat!
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