This is one type of brave

Hi all:

I’ve often written about taking that deep breath, tapping into your braveness, and what those amazing rewards of pushing bring us. And when I’ve talked about bravery and risk taking, I’m mostly talking about the outdoors and pushing ourselves in uncomfortable, but rewarding ways as it relates to hiking or skiing or kayaking or whatever outdoor adventure grabs you, but right now I want to share with you a different type of bravery – one that I witnessed last Tuesday evening in a Portland community pool.

A little background: in late February, I met with the Deering High School social worker about connecting with a recent immigrant and finding a way to help out. She thought it over and introduced me to two young men who arrived here alone from Angola. They are each 19, students at Deering, in this country without any family, living together and finding their way. Once a week I have them over to my house, they play basketball in my driveway, sometimes we cook dinner together or bake cookies, we share a meal and recently we’ve been playing Uno (it gets very intense). I’ve helped them sign up for driver’s ed (some of you contributed to the cost; thank you). And most recently, I enrolled them in a learn-to-swim class through the City of Portland. The three of us took a trip to Walmart, bought bathing suits, towels, swim goggles (and yes, the Girl Scouts tempted us with their cookie display) in preparation for their first foray into the world of swimming.

Last Tuesday, I showed up at the Reiche Pool in Portland’s West End to see the swim class in action. There were six people in the class and I was amazed by each of them. One woman was terrified of the deep water, one young non-binary person couldn’t put their face in the pool, but eventually did, another young woman was totally rocking it and the boys from Angola were giggling, bobbing, and figuring out how to float. I sat on the sidelines thinking about the strangeness of immersing yourself in water for the first time. It was so brave of them to try something uncomfortable and scary. It wasn’t a hike, it wasn’t an ice climb, but it was completely outside of their comfort zones and they were all in. And all in with an amazing combo of fear and glee.

Sometimes I forget that pushing oneself doesn’t mean pushing to nth degree — it could be something as subtle and as big as learning to swim.

Here’s an admission: I gauge my success by the difficulty of the endeavor. Maybe it’s time to rejigger that gauge. Maybe success is sitting in a 20-minute meditation or a slow woods walk observing the leaves and birds. Maybe it’s cooking a recipe that you’ve never made before. Maybe it’s simply sitting and not doing. Maybe pushing harder doesn’t equate success. Let’s redefine that word. How does that sound?

Here’s some nerdiness: May the 4th be with you

OK, that’s it. Get outside if you can, find pleasure where you can, take a risk or not, and take good care of yourself.

Happy adventuring,