The thought of resisting adventure seems foreign on the surface but many people do it every day. A couple of years ago my family took a vacation getaway with another family to a lake house a few hours from home. With no television or technology to get in the way, the lake became our playground for the week.
The first couple of days were filled with our families enjoying swimming and reading in hammocks under the tall pines. While they swam and soaked in the sun, I set off exploring the rest of the lake in my kayak. Each time I’d return to shore at the house, I asked if anyone wanted to venture out.
“No, we aren’t really kayak people,” would come the reply. After the second day of excursions, while enjoying dinner around a rustic farm table, I asked a question that had been a 48 hour itch.
“What is it about the kayak that worries you?”
The answers started to flow and it began to make more sense. Over the next few minutes I dispelled many myths involving kayaks that weren’t stable, the worry of taking on water, and even explained how easy the Mirage Drive was to propel a kayak in the water versus needing the arm strength to paddle.
A new curiosity emerged that was followed by a new question.
“What is it about kayaking that makes you want to do it all the time?”
I explained the calming peace that washes over you as you move away from shore. I shared how the stress of the world is melted away as your ears are filled with sounds of lapping waves and the twitter of field larks. I shared how I recharged my soul on the water.
Plans were made for an adventure the next morning.
After explaining the finer points of navigating the Red Hibiscus Hobie® Mirage® Outback, I launched my friend into a watery world I knew so well. As soon as he turned I saw what I knew I would see. All of his teeth were clearly visible in the widest smile I’d ever known him to show as he set off on his first adventure on the water. And it wasn’t his last.
