Today I was thinking about missed opportunities.
I remember the day we bought our kayaks as being one of the happier ones of my life. You can tell by the manic gleam in my eyes.
I have spent some of my best days in a kayak. Like this one, my maiden voyage:
And this golden hour on 7th lake in Inlet, NY where we followed a loon across the water in the crisp chill of an early October evening.
And this night where we taught Chief the commands “get in” and “get out”
And this April camping trip, our first with Chief, where the biting flies were so bad we were all miserable and had a great time anyway.
But that brings us back to missed opportunities. Like this perfect summer morning when the water was so flat it looked like a polished mirror, and where was my kayak?
Well, only about 3.7 miles away but still out of my reach, especially on a day I was already running late. I’d only spotted the perfectly calm water by chance when I’d stepped outside to see how hot the day had become at 8am. If only I’d gotten up a little bit sooner, or planned for adventure a little bit better… But now that perfect moment is gone.
I think part of the problem is that there are so many things that I want to do and so many things that I have to do that there isn’t really enough time in a day. How do you find the time to spend with the people you love, and do all the things you love, and all the things you think you might love if you could find the time? How do you reconcile yourself to all of the opportunities you have to miss, all the kayaking you don’t get to do?
So what can I do to stop missing opportunities?
My best idea is to just put down my phone. I read a book recently that said phones have taken our boredom away and maybe that’s the problem? Maybe all of the hours of our day feel so full because there is literally always a distraction, and maybe without the distractions we’ll see the opportunities before we miss them