Dragon Boating....Part of Creating My Shining Year

I went dragon boat racing on Saturday with work, at Caldecott Lake in Milton Keynes. It was great fun and whilst we didn’t win, because we were racing against very experienced teams, as a scratch crew we did get a trophy.

For me it was a huge thing taking part in this activity and being part of the team because it meant coming way out of my comfort zone and also overcoming a lot of unhelpful messages in my sub-conscious… least I don’t do sport, especially not team sport.

You see when I was at school I was one of those kids who just didn’t do sport well. I was one of the couple of people left at the end of choosing teams and, well, you get the picture. I’m also a natural introvert which doesn’t always help when it comes to team events.

So you see it took a lot for me to dragon boating this weekend and I want to spend a few minutes reflecting on what I got out of the experience, besides sun burn where I didn’t quite get the sun cream all over and some stiff muscles  the next day.

First off – I discovered that the world of sport is so much bigger than the team sports we got to do at school. This might sound obvious, but like lots of people my knowledge of sports is limited. If you get out there it’s possible to find all sorts of things to try which you might not have known about before.

Secondly, if you don’t put yourself outside your comfort zone you never get to find out. Signing up to this seriously put me outside my comfort zone. I was really scared that I would never be able to do it and that I would let everybody down. Yet I was part of the team doing three 200m races and two 500m.

Thirdly, it really does help you do these things if you set yourself goals to work towards.

I’ve briefly mentioned before that this year I am using the Leonie Dawson Life and Biz workbook….Create Your Shining Year. Part of this involves two key exercises. One is coming up with a list of 100 things you’d like to do in the year. Note….this is not 100 things you will necessarily do but 100 things you’d like to do. Another is setting goals for each month, thinking about how you are going to achieve these and reflecting on what you have achieved including unplanned successes...this I’ve found can help some of the 100 things come to fruition. The workbook also gives you strategies for helping you achieve a balance in your life and thinking about health and spirituality alongside the rest of life. I’ve found this really helpful in getting me to focus, dream and look outside my comfort zone in a way which sees things getting achieved.

Dragon boating was one of my dreams and goals. I wanted to get out there and take part in this activity with people I work with and I did it. More than that I found out it was brilliant fun….so what’s your dream? Just go for it!