What Floats Your Boat?
What floats your boat? Ok, besides that.
I like floating. Whether floating down the Itchetuknee River in North Florida, the Chattahoochee in North Georgia, or a lazy river at a water park, floating is a wonderful experience. I have flipped out of an inner tube and into a two-feet deep river
I assume we have all been on a boat. What is wonderful about a boat is that it floats. It suspends nature, which would have water envelop you, cover you and contain you, and it allows you to stay on top.
Recently, I was on a cruise on a very big boat. As I stood on the deck of that boat, heretofore know as the ship, I wondered again how something so heavy could float. I understand it is a physics lesson and it is no mystery to those that study such science, but to me it is mysterious.
And not only does it stay afloat, it stays upright and even in the water (….mostly.) If the ship is not balanced, weight-wise, it can tip over. If it tips over, a la The Poseidon Adventure, we have what we call in the south, ‘A boatload of trouble.’
Some time ago I was on a flight from Atlanta to Paris and my seatmate was headed to the Le Mans Grand Prix. As we spent eight hours together I learned many lessons about floating and balance as he was the “balance engineer” on a large oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
The things he shared with me became life lessons that I have kept and am now sharing with you.
- Imbalance leads to a fall. If you get overloaded on one side of your life and you continue to allow intake there you will eventually topple. People are not Weebles! Weebles wobble but don’t fall down. People do!
He shared with me that a good 70% of the platform is above the water line so the water cannot be used as much of a deterrent, or braking mechanism if you begin to topple. In the same way much of our lives are lived publicly and if we take on too much our fall will be public as well.
- When you take on, you must also take off. This is key! If I am going to increase my load in an area of my life that is ‘going heavy’ there has to be a ‘going light’ concurrently.
He shared with me how that when a helicopter lands on the side of the floating platform, at that exact time he has to lighten the ballast on that side of the platform to keep the load even. Overload leads to disaster and we all have a tipping point that we have to KNOW about. What is your weight limit?
- In times of stormy waters you must pay more attention to keeping your balance. Wind and waves affect balance. If you have high seas and one side of your platform is getting battered you have to continually be moving weight around to keep even.
In the storms of life it is time to pay attention to everything. Do not take your eye off any life measurement, or gauge. Watch, feel, sense every corner and movement. If you just watch what is going on on the outside, you might miss what has shifted inside. Don’t sleep through a storm.
- Never overload the deck. Balance is not the only factor in keeping afloat – weight is too. If you just keep adding pieces and baggage and never let go, you will sink. While sinking is slower than tipping over, the devastation is no less.
For many people they take and take and take and never let go of any injustice, dependency, injury or consequence. That is a sure way to eventually drown in the waters of regret. You have a load limit and you better know what it is. Just because you aren’t tipping doesn’t mean you aren’t sinking. Pay attention.
So, the next time I am on a boat, I will continue to watch, learn and then enjoy the reality that floating is possible and balance is attainable!
Afloat!
