Earlier this summer, my family camped a couple of nights in an area of Pennsylvania known for being a great watersports area. My dad thought it would be fun for my family of four to raft one morning. Since none of us had ever rafted before, we chose to raft on the easiest, calmest part of the river. I'll admit that I was nervous in the days leading up to this trip and especially the morning of since this would be a new experience for me.
From the moment we got in the raft to the moment I eagerly hopped onshore at the end of the trip, I hated it. During the trip, and thinking about it after, I was thinking a lot of things, namely disappointment that I hadn't enjoyed the experience and wasted my parent's money. As I thought about it, though, I realized that all of these things became valuable lessons that I can use in other parts of my life now and as I move forward.
1. Keep yourself balanced.
In a raft, you must balance your body on the edge of the raft and the middle piece. With how a raft is designed, you cannot put your weight in the middle. It's always a good idea to balance yourself between work and play as you'll either get burnt out or bored out of your mind.
2. Rely on those around you.
If you haven't learned this yet, you don't have to do anything on your own.
3. Communication is always imperative.
Or, in a cringier way, "teamwork makes the dream work."
4. Be as prepared as you can.
Can you be prepared for truly anything? Probably not. But you can prepare for something. Murphy's law: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
5. Obstacles may come up when you least expect them.
The river may look peaceful, but a large rock or branch may pop up out of nowhere.
6. Scope out a path before you take it.
Not all paths are created equal. Why take a worse one when there's something better?
7. A situation may not be as bad as you think it will be.
I would look ahead at some parts of the river and think that it looked really rough, but once we got into it, it wasn't bad at all. This is also true in so many places of life.
8. Sometimes it’s best to just ride out your problems.
Trying to control the situation may not do you any good. Simply coasting and letting it pass by is sometimes your best option.
9. There is no such thing as “money wasted.”
I felt bad that I wasted my parents' money on the trip since I didn't have a good time, but if I hadn't gone on the raft, I wouldn't have learned that rafting isn't for me, as well as these other lessons!
10. Any situation can be an opportunity for personal growth.
Even though I hated the trip, I learned so much from it and am ultimately glad that I went.
11. It’s okay to not be happy all the time.
Besides the money issue, I felt bad that I wasn't enjoying the experience. But frankly, I don't think that you have to be happy about everything. There is a wide range of human emotions for a reason, so you don't have to stick yourself in one camp all the time.
12. Don’t compare your feelings to someone else’s to feel bad about it.
While I really hated every moment that I was in the raft, my sister had a good time and said she would do it again. This made me feel bad that, again, I wasn't getting anything out of my time. But, my sister and I – as well as everyone else – are different people and have different tastes. It is totally okay for someone to love something that I hate and vice versa.
13. You can learn from every experience.
If I can come up with all these mantras from a 2.5 hour raft trip, surely lessons can be learned from anything.
14. Some experiences are not worth repeating, however.
Perhaps my biggest lesson is that I hate rafting and will literally never do it again. I'll spend my time doing things that I know I like as well as trying out new things to learn if I like those too.
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