Changing those Gollum conversations

Every now and again I get inspired by the changes I see clients making in their lives. It’s great hearing about the different things you’re doing which you thought would never be possible. Recently I’ve found myself thinking “hmmm…what random, exciting and fun things can I do? It must be my turn for some of this fun stuff. Why should my clients get to have all the good times!” A few weeks ago a business mate share a “try sailing day” at Leven Yacht Club on Facebook. When I saw the event I thought “well that meets my criteria; random, exciting and fun.” So I decided to go along. Remember that feeling when you rock up to something and think to yourself: “Why am I doing this again?” “No-one's seen you yet, you can still drive off.” “What have I got myself into?” That was me. But for some reason I found my legs walking me towards the Club House. Listening and acting on my unconscious was a good move because I ended up having a fun day. I even learnt how to sail a “Sabre”. After the success of not falling in and managing to go in the direction that I wanted to, I thought I’d go to the junior sailing training day. Now I’d moved up to the stage where you find yourself thinking: “This won’t be so bad.” “Yep, I’ve got this.” “If those 8 year old's can do it, so can I.” That was where I was at. Now remember when something totally unexpected happens which pops that positive bubble you’re floating around in? I asked the coach if there were enough boats set up for all the pairs. He said that yes there were enough boats and everyone would be in pairs, except for you. You’ll be on your own. I found my response interesting. I could really relate to Gollum. There was a part of my mind saying “you know this is good because you’ll actually have to learn for yourself how to drive this thing.” Then the other part saying “You’re crazy right? You’ve spent all of two hours max on the water. Plus I’m pretty sure it’s not called driving. That shows how much you know about sailing.” I didn’t mind the Gollum type conversation I was having because it showed that my mind was keeping me alert to the potential threats in my environment. That’s what our minds have evolved to do. My mind was acting the way it should. Going on a boat on your own with very little experience is one of those threats. I’m sure you can think of stressful situations in your life when you’ve started your own Gollum conversation in your head. I wasn’t going to let those thoughts overcome my new experience though. Each time I found myself doing this thinking pattern (because that’s simply what it was) I’d ask myself “what needs to happen?” This would give me action steps; relax, ask someone a question, push through this feeling, keep going or move the sail! This question would interrupt the thinking pattern. It got me moving forward. I’m not quite sure if exciting and fun are the right words to explain that solo sailing experience. It was definitely random but more like scary, exhilarating and a bit frustrating because I felt I had no idea what I was doing but really wanted to be able to sail. I can definitely see the potential for fun and enjoyment though; after more practice and learning. Maybe I was a bit too keen to think I’d learnt how to sail the Sabre after a couple of hours. P.S. To all my concerned clients who have seen the bruisers on my arms and legs this week, these are a result of getting in and out of the boat because I was learning to capsize. It was actually a lot easier than I thought and really fun. I highly recommend!