On actually doing things (reprise)
Kayak vs super-yacht
Hi!
No new post this time because writing ‘for pleasure’ has taken a back seat to writing ‘for work’. It’s reporting season, so I’ve been trying to get everything finished before heading off on a school trip next week. Therefore, I am sharing one of my favourite (and most read) posts from the archives.
Thanks for being here,
Sarah
In Oliver Burkeman’s superb book: ‘Mediation for Mortals — Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts’, he uses a remarkably simple analogy that has helped me to reconsider some of my decision-making.
Burkeman suggests that to be human is like sitting in a one-person kayak riding along a river of time. We can make some decisions in our kayak, like turning this way and that, but he writes:
“You’re at the mercy of the current, and all you can really do is to stay alert, steering as best you can, reacting as wisely and gracefully as possible to whatever arises from moment to moment” (p. 11).
Burkeman recognises that we would all probably like a bit more control in our lives, and so it seems appropriate that he contrasts the kayak with a super-yacht. Here, we can program the route and then enjoy the views while we ride the calm waves towards our destination.
He says that the idea of being on a super-yacht is what a lot of self-improvement books/schemes can project to us: we just need to have X, Y, Z in place and then we become more successful/have more meaning in our lives and so on. Yet, what often ends up happening is that we spend more time on the planning rather than the doing while the destination moves further away into the distance.
Instead, Burkeman suggests that we must face the truth that we will always be in the kayak, and that if we can steer vaguely in the direction of where we want to go, then whatever our destination is can become clearer.
I would also add to this that if we are constantly trying to manoeuvre away from the natural currents of life, then we are risk of not living at all (well, that was my interpretation of his ideas).
We shall see how it goes.
And I mean, it can’t be all bad being on a super-yacht, right? There’s probably some great food and a place to chill on the deck…
See you next time 🤩