“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind, that determines which way we will go.” - Jim Rohn
Growing up in Louisiana, I spent much of my youth around water. On weekends, we would take our boat out and spend the day sailing around Lake Pontchartrain, a large body of water that borders New Orleans. The first time we ever went out, and as the boat headed straight for the rock-filled coastline (and as my mother threatened divorce), my father learned he needed to take lessons. Not everything should be learned “on the job.” But with time, we became proficient and valued our time on the water.
Sailing responsibly requires skill guided by the willingness to learn, balanced with situational awareness. Learning from others’ experiences, which is a combination of learning from your successes and failures, fosters growth. Understanding the limits of your boat, its equipment, and your skill set led to a more enjoyable experience and kept us out of trouble. A team approach enabled each team member to leverage their strengths and enhance their experience. Finally, our situational awareness led us to capitalize on wind shifts, prevent accidents by understanding the direction of other boats around us, and identify weather changes that could threaten our safety on the water. The goal was to take the boat to where we wanted to go, not the other way around. And then safely come home.
There are a lot of life lessons that can be learned from sailing. In life, we are subject to the winds that can push us in various directions. Some will be favorable and will enhance our life experience and those around us.
Others will test us and have the potential to push us to our spiritual, emotional, and physical limits. But our faith, life skills, education, resiliency, teamwork, willingness to learn, and awareness of what surrounds us (people, ideologies, behaviors, etc.) can guide our lives toward the good and help us mitigate the bad. So, as you set the sails in your life:
How prepared are we for what the winds of life throw at us? Have we equipped ourselves spiritually, emotionally, and physically for our journey in life? Are we striving to grow personally and professionally?
Have we identified a team to support us in our life journey? Have we cultivated a community of mentors to guide us as we sail through life? Are we strengthening the critical relationships with our Family and friends?
Can we see things on the horizon and know when it is time to capitalize on the opportunities or set a new course and change direction when it may threaten what we value most in life?
Take some time this week to assess your life direction: set the sails of your faith, education, values, and relationships to a destination of your own choosing.
“Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and humanity the vessel.” – August Hare
Dennis