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“Sometimes if feels like you are the only one pulling the canoe and the other half of it is doing keg stands and getting laid.”
That’s what she told me when I needed to hear it.
If you don’t pull the canoe you will go nowhere. Sure you’ll have a good party, maybe suffer some casualties, (Drinking + Canoeing = Bad Outcome), but the waters will never change.
Think of it as an honour that you were entrusted with a paddle. Is it true if you don’t use it you lose it?
Eventually people will join along the way and the work won’t be as hard. Your constant rowing will give someone else the strength they need to summon their own spirit and become a part of the journey.
I wasn’t always paddling. Hell, in my youth I was the probably the girl who attached an inner tube to the canoe while I got sh*tfaced floating on someone elses efforts. I have endured a lot, put others through a lot, but ” I ‘ve never felt a pain that didn’t bear a blessing.” – Gene Knudson Hoffman.
True story. Yet our pasts will only hold us back if we let them. In my Aboriginal Life Cycles class we talked about how we all have “side paths”. There are side paths that we will all encounter but they are different for each. Some may come across addictions, greed, lust, or anger. These side paths represent potential if we are able to learn from them and move forward. We can experience growth there but we can also get lost in the side path and not realize our true potential. Some people run out of time on the side path and yes, they die there. We all have paths paved with purpose but we also have to choice to take them.
The truth is that the journey needs everyone and each person is a vital part of the collective effort. Arms get floppy like wet noodles and sometimes the whole effort seems futile, but it’s not.
I’m going to keep paddling and encourage you to do the same.
In Spirit,
Helen K
Reclaim the Warrior 