Had a great conversation with a new friend during lunch today about Kite Boarding (http://www.kiteboardinginstruction.com/). I used to windsurf a lot a few years ago (okay, quite a few years ago) and there was just about no greater feeling of freedom than when I was on my board and the wind caught the sail so that I flew across the lake or ocean. Loved it! I’ve seen people kite boarding at the beach, but haven’t made the opportunity to try it yet. Anyway, for anyone that has ever partaken of these sports, it’s very easy to find yourself out with your board just as soon as the sun rises and sailing/flying all day long until the sun sets (and in Texas that could be at 9:00pm in the summertime!). Needless to say, even when I was quite a bit younger I would exhaust myself regularly from all the non-stop playing.

My friend was sharing what it was like for her now to go kite boarding with friends for the weekend, now that she has a plan in place to take care of herself. For one thing, she is more apt to calmly get on her board and give herself a chance to try kite boarding however it is rather than to jump on the board and fight it into submission and for another thing when after a weekend of kite boarding with friends and they decide to continue on late into the Sunday evening after fortifying themselves with Red Bull, she was able to take care of herself and go home to get ready for the week ahead. When you’re not doing any kind of caffeine or outside stimulant, you really have to listen to your body and care for yourself.

I think of my friend’s way of taking care of herself as Kiteboarding to freedom. I realized after a day and a half of long hours of business meetings at a convention that by about 5:45 this evening I was tuckered out so I arranged for my dinner to be brought to my room and am now ensconced with comfy pillows all around me watching “Nurse Jackie” …..Not quite as sexy as turning down Kiteboarding, but maybe if I can take care of myself in such a benign situation as this, than I’ll be better prepared when I do try kiteboarding later on this summer when we head to the beach. I hope!

We get so many messages from so many directions that tell us overtly or covertly that we or what we have or what we are doing is not enough so this is the beginning of my campaign to say we are enough. Right now, however we are showing up for life. The distinction between our accepting being enough and sinking into despondency an inaction are just that–how you feel when you relax and breath and just enjoy what “is”. I believe when we’re on the right track, that settling into accepting that we’re not enough feels warm and peaceful and, of course, if it’s the other than you feel pretty crappy.

You guys can remind me of all of this when I try out kiteboarding for the first time. I suspect I’ll have the tendency to want to judge myself for not being an olympian kiteboarder immediately…but hopefully I just be able to enjoy each moment as it comes.

Where can you kiteboard to freedom?