Don’t look too far ahead…

It was early evening after a storm when the skies cleared and I was finally able to get out on the paddle board…after 5 straight days of rain.  I just love the peacefulness of being in nature and on the water.  It is such a wonderful escape.  I love the sights, the smells, the sounds; I’m a water girl.  I was tooling around a marshy area brimming with herons, ducks and osprey.  The herons looked so majestic all lined up on the marsh banks.  I wanted to get closer to see if I could get a picture…of course always wanting to capture the moment for posterity, instead of just enjoying the scene and taking a snapshot with my mind.  I paddled closer and with each stroke of the paddle a heron would fly away.  First one and then another and another.   The closer I got the more flew away, ruining my chances of getting a super awesome picture of those stately herons standing there all in a row.  As I had paddled further into the marsh I was looking so far ahead of the board toward the herons that I wasn’t noticing the water around me.  When I determined I wasn’t going to get the close up shot I wanted I started to turn to the left to get out of the marsh (a way I thought would be easier and faster!).  As I headed back in a slightly different direction than I had entered the marsh it became apparent that I had paddled into a very shallow area.  I soon found myself on a sand bar with the fin of my paddle board dragging (not a good thing for the fin!).  It seemed like every way I turned to get off that sand bar I wound up getting stuck again.  I worried that I would really booger up my fin if I wasn’t careful.  After multiple tries in one direction I finally retraced my steps and paddled back out the way I had come into the marsh.  When I got back on my way I reflected on what this little lesson had taught me.  Sometimes we are so busy looking or thinking about what’s way out ahead of us, we fail to notice what’s going on right where we are and in the process we can get stuck.  Missing what’s right in front of us can be a hazard if we’re not too careful.  And sometimes, going backwards might feel like it’s, well going backwards, like we aren’t making progress.  But sometimes going backwards is the exact right thing to do and that’s okay, in fact, if we aren’t willing to go backwards sometimes we can’t go forward because we’re stuck.  And when you’re stuck, you’re not going anywhere.  So be present – don’t look too far ahead and if life calls you back, don’t worry because eventually you’ll get back on your way!