I couldn’t spend enough time kayaking if it was my day job. The second I’m done for the day I just want to go back. It’s so nice to just get away from everything that wants my attention nonstop every day and allow myself to forget that anything exists outside of myself, the boat, and the water.
Lately I find it very emotionally exhausting just to be around most people. Unfortunately the river was incredibly crowded yesterday. I think I might take a day off of work soon and go by myself in the middle of the week. With everything that’s been on my mind lately, it takes a lot of effort for me to participate in regular conversation without seeming like a selfish jerk that can’t pay attention. I still try and force myself to be polite and hold conversations with people, but it takes a lot out of me. I think that’s why I like being on the river so much.
Yesterday was a lot of fun, but I didn’t find it to be as relaxing of a day as normal for some reason. I don’t have that post-kayaking calm today that I usually have for a few days afterwards.
I did jump off of a cliff from about 20 feet though. I had to climb a wall of rock to get there and got stuck in line behind a grown man whose fear was obvious in his voice.
Wait. Do I hold onto this knot or this knot? Oh, ok… Wait, do I jump from here or here? Oh, ok… Wait, when do I let go?
I wanted to shove him out of the way. I was apparently a little too eager to jump because I failed to get a good grip on the rope and fell off almost immediately after I jumped.
I landed pretty much face first and the last thing I heard before I hit the water was the entire crowd go “OHHHHHHH!”
My first thought was “Ouch”. My second thought was “I need to put my top back on before I get to the surface” My third thought was “Man, I wish I had gotten the chance to take a deep breath beforehand!” Seriously, I was so eager to jump I didn’t even bother to take a deep breath first! Once I got above water I couldn’t breath. Either because the wind had been knocked out of me or because my lungs were full of water. I got a horrible headache almost immediately and about five minutes later all of the teeth on the left side of my face felt like they were going to fall out.
I’d do it again right now if I could.
