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! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave, you have a valid rant. A much more honest approach would be to say "seeing you wearing your PFD puts me in my happy place!" I'm quite surprised at how attached I've become to my LifeSaver. I only started wearing it all the time because I started paddling with club members and wanted to keep them in their "happy places". Now I feel nekkid without it and although I'm the type of person who gets hot easily, my LS has never seemed to be a problem. It's a bit funny, I was thinking about it on the way in yesterday, gloved and covered in rubber, with my PFD and helmet on, radio in my pocket, dripping head to toe after a couple combat rolls, with a nice chunk of wood broken off my GP that I must look like a real dork to all the folks paddling the beautiful day in nothing but their swim trunks. When I feel that condescension, I do a quick roll in front of them and it puts me in my happy place. Mark On 1/4/2010 6:22 AM, Dave Kruger wrote: > Beware, this is a bit of a rant. > > > 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." *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger wrote: > 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? I would consider that a personal choice. I personally love comfort; that's why I paddle a comfortable boat, enjoy mild seas, and plan my vacations to have nice weather. Others like discomfort: They paddle storm seas or try to climb Mt Everest. You won't find me anywhere near such environments. > > 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." On this, I agree wholeheartedly. I hate it when people wrap up their statements in political correctness, up to the point where the statement is lost completely. Yes, tell it like it is! I once had a student with a neurological problem: He tended to "switch off" every once in a while, for a few seconds or a minute. It tended to happen when he had an overload of information. Since capsizing was such an overload, rescuing him was a bit of a problem. I talked to him about this, and he said that "it was his risk to take". While I agree with that, he would ruin my day by drowning in my class, which is _my_ risk to take. (We agreed on some extra safety measures and resolved the problem to our mutual satisfaction.) We all have our personal desires. Often we have to balance our own desires with those of others. In that aspect, it's reasonable to ask others to respect your comfort, if comfort is what you desire - but be prepared to compromise some of your desires for the desires of others. If an compromise can not be reached, you shouldn't paddle together. There's about a dozen people in my own club that I do not want to paddle with, for exactly that reason. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Love this! Dave Kruger wrote: > Beware, this is a bit of a rant. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
G'day, Here are a few more Paddlewiser WhosWho updates Carey Parks http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho7.html#careyparks Peter Osman (PeterO) http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho7.html#peterosman John Waddington http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho9b.html#JohnWaddington If you want to update or add your paddlewise Who's Who entry just send the text or image to me at mailto:rebylkayak_at_energysustained.com All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Thanks for doing this for us PaddleWisers, Peter :) PeterO wrote: >G'day, > >Here are a few more Paddlewiser WhosWho updates *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Jackie wrote: >Thanks for doing this for us PaddleWisers, Peter :) G'Day Jackie, It's a satisfying task, and thanks for showing me how to do the web page editing Jackie - its proven a very useful skill. All the best, Peter *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
G'day, Some more Paddlewise WhosWho updates Jens Viggo Moesmand http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho6.html#JensViggoMoesmand Rafael Mir http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho6.html#RafaelMir Natalie Wiest http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho9b.html#NatalieWiest If you want to update or add your paddlewise Who's Who entry just send the text or image to me at mailto:rebylkayak_at_energysustained.com All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
G'Day, 1. Apologies if WhosWho emails have been bouncing - there was a missing underscore in my email link. (Thanks to Dave Kruger for spotting this). See the correct email link mailto:rebyl_kayak_at_energysustained.com if you want to update or add your Paddlewise Who's Who entry 2. I've also been alerted by a Paddlewise contributor that coding mechanisms for emails to prevent Spam such as the one we use on Paddlewise, using "BOAS" for "_at_" and "DOT" for ".", are no longer effective. It seems as if the only recourse these days is to use Spam filters on incoming mail. For this reason please let me know if you have a WhosWho listing and would like your email address removed . All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
G'day, Another Paddlewise WhosWho update Dave Kruger http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho4.html#DaveKruger If you want to update or add your paddlewise Who's Who entry just send the text or image to me at mailto:rebyl_kayak_at_energysustained.com All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
G'day, They are coming in steadily, which is very satisfying - Here's another Paddlewise WhosWho update from David Flory at: http://www.paddlewise.net/whoswho/whoswho2.html#DavidFlory If you want to update or add your paddlewise Who's Who entry just send the text and/or image to me at: mailto:rebyl_kayak_at_energysustained.com All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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