How you can increase your resilience if you focus on your recovery

Catch, drive, finish, recover.
Catch, drive, finish, recover.

Science proves that connecting with nature leads to an unbelievable amount of benefits. Connect with nature and you disconnect from everything else: technology, negativity, comparison, expectations, assumptions… the list goes on. My peer and friend calls it “Skies Before Screens”: prioritizing being outdoors in nature rather than being inside on devices. 

But I know of few activities that allow you to disconnect from the very thing that informs our behaviour, mood, and happiness: our thinking. Ironic that the very thing that drives us towards success, is the same thing that gets in the way of our attaining it. 

Many clients tell me that they like control; if they only had control then all would be well. Many don’t like to hear that we have control over very little, even though our ego likes to suggest the opposite. But the one thing you do you have ownership of is you’re thinking. In other words, it isn’t a lack of control that’s getting in your way, it’s your thinking. 

When I’m out in the water trying to match the stroke of my squad, my thoughts are what get me every time. They trip me up while I’m rowing, interrupting the flow:

Catch, drive, finish, recover.

But every stroke offers room for improvement: to reset, to refocus, to re-calibrate. The stroke before is in the past as you face the next one with a clean slate.

There’s no time to focus on perfection only on progress.

(After all how else are you going to get back to shore?). The complexity and pace only allow for incremental improvement over time, rather than a focus on an impossible ideal. 

If you but once start thinking outside of the boat, you’re off, you’re done, finito. It’s not all doom and gloom. After all, it takes more than that to end up in the drink, but it’s time to reset and prepare for the next stroke.  

It’s in the recovery that we build resilience. It’s in the recovery that we demonstrate perseverance. It’s in the recovery that we can return to the present moment. In recovery we are in the practice of letting go of what was, and not worrying about what’s next. When we’re able to focus on where we are right now, in the moment, and operate from there, we experience peace, calm, and ease. We are experiencing the best of what life has to offer: the present moment. 

"Living in the moment is a gift. That's why they call it the present." -Ted Lasso 

There’s no better place or time to be.

Staying present is a challenge to say the least, but in the recovery of going between the past and the future, we can strengthen our minds and shift our thinking. We can build new awareness, uncover new opportunities, and create a life of intention and alignment. It’s only from the present moment that we can step into choice and have agency in our lives.

And if you’re still stuck in your thinking, try something new, unknown and unfamiliar…

May I suggest rowing?

Kirsten Schmidtke is a professional coach, speaker, and lover of lake life. She works with leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs to help them up-level their careers, businesses, and lives. Are you ready to explore what’s possible for you? Contact Kirsten to start the conversation!