[Paddlewise] The "Comfort" Zone (or: Telling Paddling Partners Forcefully About PFD's)

Beware, this is a bit of a rant.

What's with this business of using "I am not comfortable with that" as a 
reason or rationale for not doing something?  What does comfort have to do 
with it?  Are we supposed to be "comfortable" all the time?  Should we 
avoid those experiences which are outside our "comfort zone" forever?

The nut of my distaste for that reason for avoiding something is, the 
phrase does not blinking explain anything or justify the avoidance!  It 
just says, "this makes me nervous."  (Mommy)

Crap.  Testing one's comfort zone is how we learn.  Toddlers get bumps, 
scrapes, and minor burns by finding the edges of what is dangerous and what 
is not.  Adults should do the same.  Speeding down the freeway at a 
dangerous rate might make a person uncomfortable, for sure, but the 
fleating _reason_ not to do it is that he/she does not have good control of 
the car and might die!

So, when someone says, "I want you to wear a PFD because I'm uncomfortable 
if you don't" I want to gag.  Tell it like it is:  "If you don't wear the 
bloody PFD it makes it a lot tougher for me to drag your ass back into/onto 
the boat."  Or, "that PFD will make it ever so much easier to find your 
body and smooth the collection of your life insurance."

Life is rough, and that's the way we like it, right?  Explore the edges and 
find that your center can be upset, now and then, for greater rewards.

-- 
Dave Kruger,
uncomfortable in
Astoria, OR, and glad of it!
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