When to cheat: Scoot through a hurricane!
Today, icy cold gusts, branches and debris from the recent hurricane, St Jude, marred our journey along The Thames. We completed the section from Sunbury lock, to the Western most point of Denborough Island, via the longer route following the true river path of The Thames.
On any journey or adventure there are options to guild the lily. It is rather tempting to do so, and find really good excuses to justify your choice. Now, all said, the aftermath of a hurricane is a rather good excuse.
The option for us was whether we be true to ourselves, and our journey to follow The Thames, or choose a shorter, less tree lined and hazardous route alongside the cut through, Denborough Channel...
In the scale of cheating this , well it hardly counts. You are looking at around 3 kilometers, less than 1/100th of the entire journey, and after all, as we had conceived of this journey, would it really matter? Would anyone be bothered? .... No... Ok, so we chose the harder route, and this was why:
Whether we go this way or that way is of little interest to anyone, except to us. I have come to realise that a small moment of cheating, when it doesn't matter can result in failure later on. To struggle and succeed on a seemingly small task sets your mind with renewed energy to tackle further challenges. Taking the easy cheat only weakens your mental reserve, and makes you more prone to falling back into that habit later on, or not believing that you can genuinely succeed. The strength we have inside is built up through many small incidents along the way, many we don't even consider. At some point we come up against a bigger obstacle, and our collective experience helps us through.
We have now completed nearly 1/7th of our journey, with our little daughters scooting 50 kilometers!
On any journey or adventure there are options to guild the lily. It is rather tempting to do so, and find really good excuses to justify your choice. Now, all said, the aftermath of a hurricane is a rather good excuse.
The option for us was whether we be true to ourselves, and our journey to follow The Thames, or choose a shorter, less tree lined and hazardous route alongside the cut through, Denborough Channel...
In the scale of cheating this , well it hardly counts. You are looking at around 3 kilometers, less than 1/100th of the entire journey, and after all, as we had conceived of this journey, would it really matter? Would anyone be bothered? .... No... Ok, so we chose the harder route, and this was why:
Whether we go this way or that way is of little interest to anyone, except to us. I have come to realise that a small moment of cheating, when it doesn't matter can result in failure later on. To struggle and succeed on a seemingly small task sets your mind with renewed energy to tackle further challenges. Taking the easy cheat only weakens your mental reserve, and makes you more prone to falling back into that habit later on, or not believing that you can genuinely succeed. The strength we have inside is built up through many small incidents along the way, many we don't even consider. At some point we come up against a bigger obstacle, and our collective experience helps us through.
We have now completed nearly 1/7th of our journey, with our little daughters scooting 50 kilometers!
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