A few weeks ago, before autumn descended upon us seemingly overnight, I achieved a long-held aim of mine: I tried out stand up paddling.
I booked a lesson at a local lake and cycled over, with a bit of trepidation: I'm not the most physically coordinated of people and have never been good at sports. And, guess what? Of the seven people in my group taking the introductory SUP course, I was the only one to fall into the water. Twice.
However, I came away feeling immensely happy because I learnt a few things from my unfortunate dunking:
1. Unlike mountain lakes in North Wales or Lake Wakatipu in Queensland, the water in this local lake was positively warm. My fear was that I'd fall in and suffer a heart attack from the shock of the icy cold water. (I should stop watching so many crime series - I always think of the worst possible scenario.) But, no, it was like falling into a bathtub.
2. I now know that I can get back onto the board. Although, one does look somewhat reminiscent of a rather ungainly seal, flopping along on one's belly, trying to get to the middle of the board so that one can get into a kneeling position and slowly stand up again.
3. The fear of falling in was one hundred times worse than actually falling in.
Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.
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