Paddling Utah Lake - Getting Un-stuck

Paddling Utah Lake

This is the view from my kayak overlooking the Wasatch Mountain Range reflected in Utah Lake. Do you see the Y on the mountain for Brigham Young University? It's off to the right and it's tiny!

I hadn't intended to get stuck. It hadn't even crossed my mind that the low lake level would stop me mid paddle! But it did and I learned some lessons about getting un-stuck in real life as I maneuvered myself off the mudbed.

In a recent post I described paddling the lower Provo River. It was beautiful! When I went a good distance up the river I decided to turn around and head back to where the river empties into Utah Lake.

 

I was eager to explore the clumps of reeds and get up close to the congregations of seagulls near the shore.

The water was so calm and brilliantly reflective of the autumn sky. I was delighted and breathless at the beauty all around me!

Notice the two black dots? Fisherman in the marbled lake...

 

 

 

As the river gradually became the lake, the water remained clear until I got out a little further where it took on it's notorious Utah Lake murkiness. I couldn't tell just how shallow the water was. I found out it was SHALLOW! Even though I was far out into the lake, the water level was low.

 

At one point just as I was maneuvering my way through clumps of stiff reeds and heading back towards the river, I began sticking to the muddy bottom. No problem, I thought. I began paddling hard to get some momentum, hoping to glide over the immersed bank I was paddling over. Nope. I skidded to a stop.

 

I began paddling fiercly, lifting my rear up off the seat of my kayak and laying flat across my kayak to displace my weight evenly. I'm sure I looked absurd! I bet the seagulls were laughing at me. For sure anyone on the shore watching me had a good laugh!

I dug my paddles into the mud in an attempt to push my way off the bank using sheer determination. I didn't get very far.

Even though the shore was within sight, and the water was shallow, I was still out in the belly of the lake (or so it felt like it to me) and I didn't want to step out into the water to drag my kayak off the bank. For some reason that made me feel dreadfully uncomfortable - mud squishing into my toes through my open water shoes, the cold water freezing me to my ankles. Just the idea of getting out of my kayak in the middle of that marshy wetland was unnerving. I didn't want to leave the comfort of my boat.

The truth was that I was STUCK and was not going to be able to continue on my way until I did something different than everything else I tried to this point. I eventually had to stand up, put my feet in that cold water, and step out of the boat. I had to leave the comfort of my kayak and move to deeper, flowing water to be able to make progress back up to the river.

After I was back in my kayak again and paddling happily upstream into the Provo River towards the boat ramp, I thought about how like life that simple, silly experience was:

1. Sometimes we are stuck in our lives. We are not progressing. We are not moving forward. We are not fulfilling our greatest potential.
2. We try to get moving again by shifting a few things in our lives. Maybe we make some little habit changes here and there. Maybe we adjust our priorities. But in some cases that is still not the change that is needed.
3. When little changes don't fix it, sometimes in desperation we frantically dig in, try to free ourselves through our sheer determination to make things better on our own.
4. There are times when a GREATER CHANGE is required to finally be free and able to move on. Sometimes we have to GET OUT OF OUR BOATS, get out of our comfortable places where we are stuck and drag ourselves to a completely different location.

Maybe it is a job change. Maybe it is deciding to go back to school. Maybe it is starting that project that keeps prodding. Maybe it is a move. Maybe it's seeking outside help for addictions or trauma.

Maybe it is something as simple (not easy) as a change in our characters or capacity through the enabling power of Jesus Christ's Atonement. The Atonement is all about change.

 

When I feel stuck in my life, when things aren't right, the one source I rely on is The Lord Jesus Christ. When I finally decide to stop my frenzied, lonely, ineffective efforts and step out of my comfortable boat into the Living Waters of the Savior I am given the capacity to make changes that lead to freedom and progression.

It's true.

The Savior's Atonement is my answer to getting un-stuck in life.

When have you needed to make giant changes in your life in order to progress? How do you get the courage to step out of your comfort zone and make the changes that you need to? I'd love for you to share your experiences getting un-stuck! :)

Please leave a comment and follow my blog by email if you'd like to join me in the conversations here on a regular basis. I'd love to connect with you!

Keep paddling forward!

LaRayne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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