Life is like a rafting trip...

I had a conversation with my brother, Martin, a few weeks back. It was one of those really good talks. You know the kind, where you hang up feeling like you are definitely the luckiest girl in the world to have such cool brothers who know perfectly how to help you "get" things about life because they just know how to talk to you. Yeah, it was one of those moments. My brain loves analogies and I think this one even top my "How Hermanas are like potatoes" analogy that I came up with on my mission (That's a classic..but we'll save that for another day). So here it is.. life is like a rafting trip.

A white water rafting trip was something I had on my "To do before I die" list ever since I was a kid and saw the pictures my brothers brought back from their high adventure trips. I wanted to go for many years, butI never really made any plans or efforts to actually do it. The opportunity pretty much just appeared for me and finally I was able to cross it off my list. I was 24 years old.
LIFE APPLICATION: When you put little effort into the things you desire out of life, you're going to just continue waiting and waiting and waiting. (you reap what you sow) OR Good things come to those who wait (really it just depends on the situation you apply it to)

So now let's get out on that river!... Have you been rafting before? If not, how do you picture a white water rafting adventure? Exciting?! Thrilling?! Maybe slightly frightening?! Well, if you've been on a rafting trip then you know what I'm talking about when I say you spend about 85% of the trip just floating along riding the gentle current.
LIFE APPLICATION: Life is not always super exciting. In fact, most of the time we're just kinda coasting along, and the tricky part for us is in figuring out how to enjoy the gentle "current".

Now let's analyze the raft. Did you see Cast Away? Titanic? or really any other survival movie where the individual stays alive floating atop who knows what piece of junk they found. We can also talk about the homemade "Tom Sawyer" type rafts or the professionally designed white water rafting boats, safety-equipped with blah blah blah.
LIFE APPLICATION: Who are you? How strong is your raft? Can it support you? Can it also be a support to others? Are you the safety-equipped boat with life jackets to share or are you struggling to stay afloat yourself?

HERE COME THE RAPIDS!!! Are you excited? Your heart starts pounding, the anticipation is building..Will you hit it just right? Will you get wet? Will you fall out? Will you get that amazing feeling in the pit of your stomach that makes you want to throw up and laugh yourself silly all at the same time?! Yes! We love rapids! In a paddle boat, you have to work together, paddling your arms off, as a team, to make sure you "dig in" just right to be able to get through it. Oh, isn't the adrenalin rush amazing!! you know, the one that comes when we go through the rapids. it's just as satisfying as the relief that comes once we've survived them.


LIFE APPLICATION: Trials are like rapids. We all know they're going to come, but how we work through them is what matters. Who do we have on our team in our paddle boat? People who help or people who are paddling against us? Also, are we doing our part to "dig in" or are we sleeping in the back of the boat, hoping everyone else's efforts will suffice? Trials, just like rapids, only happen every once in awhile in our lives. If we stay focused on the tough experiences and trials we survived years ago (just like overly focusing on a rapid we may have gone through 5 miles back) we can't fully concentrate on what we're doing in the present (whether that be enjoying the gentle coast in the current or preparing to paddle through a new rapid, which will be different than any we have gone through before).

So what happens if I fall out of the boat? Well it happens. That's why you have to be prepared. The river guide always goes through all the safety drills before the boat ever leaves the shore and every boat has a guide, a throw rope, life jackets and sometimes helmets. Stay calm, follow the instructions the guide gives you. You're going to be just fine.
LIFE APPLICATION This one is easy. Who is our ultimate guide in life? I'm sure most of us can say we feel like we have been tossed out of the "boat of life" a time or two. How prepared are we? Do we follow the instructions we've been given? All of us are dumb sometimes, yet even when we're not as prepared as we should be, the guide ALWAYS comes to the rescue.

So in closing, just remember, life is like a rafting trip and people generally don't sign up just to float around in the gentle current and get sunburned thighs. No, people actually sign up for, and pay hundreds of dollars for the RAPIDS!

Isn't that cool?! Once again, another example of Recreation Therapy at its best, thus proving that all fun things really do have a life lesson to process from it, all you have to do is look for it (or have a fabulous Rec therapist handy to point it out for you)