Camping
Solo
by Lynn Cutts
I
recently completed my first solo camping trip. Although I've been
camping for over 45 years, this was the first time I didn't have
parents, friends, or a husband alone with me. It was just me, and
the birds, and the bees. And the bear, but that's another story.
Anyway,
as I planned my trip, I found myself getting more and more apprehensive.
What if I couldn't . . . pitch the tent, light the stove, haul the
water, sleep by myself . . . You name it, I worried about it. I
came up with Plan B's and Plan C's and even a few Plan F's. By the
morning I was supposed to leave, I'd almost "what iffed"
myself out of going. But then I came up with the ultimate Plan B:
if it got too tough, I could go stay in a motel, or even head home.
So I went.
And
I found it was easier than I expected. I threaded the poles into
the tent, and then got the little metal doohickies into the tent
poles so the tent stood up. I pounded five out of six tent pegs
into rocky ground (bent the sixth) using a rock, because I'd forgotten
the hammer. I hauled water. I coaxed our cranky, thirty-year-old
camp stove into working. I split kindling for a campfire I didn't
get to have (the bear, again). And at the end of two days, as I
drove home happy and at peace, I realized I didn't have just one
success. I had a whole collection of little ones.
I've
heard-and preached-about breaking big projects down into little
ones, but the principle has never come home to me so clearly as
on this trip. When I looked at it as a whole, it was so scary I
almost backed down. But once I got out there and did just one task
at a time, and focused on that task only, it became not only manageable,
but almost easy.
Just
as important, all that "unnecessary" worrying I'd done
before the trip actually paid off. Because I'd mentally worked through
a dozen different problems beforehand (of course, the problems I
ended up facing weren't the ones I'd worried about), I was more
confident about meeting the challenges that did arise. And since
my ultimate Plan B gave me permission to fail, I had the courage
to try.
So
go ahead. Worry. But don't let it stop you. And give yourself permission
to fail. Because only then, will you have the courage to succeed.
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