Friday, June 24, 2011

Emotion Kayaks

What a great name, right?  I heard this and instantly thought about all of the emotion kayaks in my life. We know what a kayak is, right?

  • "a type of small boat, powered by the occupant or occupants using a double-bladed paddle in a sitting position; to use a kayak, to travel or race in a kayak; to traverse a body of water by kayak."

So how can can we define an "emotion kayak"?  Well, here are a few that popped right into my head.

Menopause - That's certainly an emotional kayak that you hope gets upright easily.  Moving through the hot and cold temperatures in your body, dealing with the raging hormones and carrying yourself in a dignified manner though the whole process

Marriage - When the ups and downs of marriage are certainly an one.  The issues here are almost too many to list - money, kids, toothpaste spits in the sink (oops, did I mention that?) But they all have there own emotional paddling that needs to be done.

Children - From birth until you send them off to college and even until they have children of their own, there is a ton of emotion kayaks going on with them.  Watching them learn to walk and not running to catch them when they fall all the way to letting them actually drive a car....it never ends.

And who doesn't think of kayaking without thinking about furious paddling?  Often upstream, right?  Money issues, changing jobs, deciding to have children - all are decisions we make (or are forced to make) while furiously paddling upstream.

Life really is a series of  "emotion Kayaks".  Learning how to navigate with them is a worthwhile struggle.

P.S. Here is the inspiration.....  

0 thoughts and revelations: