five ways to deal with feeling intimidated

Ever go to do something and not know how to start? No matter how you approach it you just feel like you will never be able to succeed so what is the point in trying at all?

The feeling of intimidation is daunting. It discourages us from trying new things, from sharing our accomplishments and from being the best we can be. Intimidation is born from many sources: a peer who is 'good at everything', a preconceived notion of how you should look/perform/interact or pressures felt from companies/celebrities displaying their concepts of perfection. One of the biggest intimidation sources is social media. It is easy to think that everyone out there is cooler, better, happier, more popular etc etc than you based on their curated Instagram feed or flawless 'Snap Streak'. 

Surely everyone has felt intimidated at one point or another so here are our Top Five Ways to Deal with Intimidation:

  1. Be confident in your own path. - You make choices every day that shape your life. Those choices make you who you are. As long as you are happy with the path you are on do not worry about what others may think and stay true to yourself. 
  2. Public image ≠ reality. - People generally do not post bad pictures of themselves. People generally do not let you know about their failures. No one is perfect and whenever it seems like person x is living the dream and better than you at life just remember that they have their own fears and limitations that you may not know about. Do not compare yourself to someone else's ideals but rather focus on your own.
  3. Set goals. - The best way to ignore the crowd is to set some goals. These can be goals to a specific accomplishment or just daily goals like be a better person, help others and try something new. We help each of our campers set goals every day at camp and it allows them to tackle big things without getting overwhelmed. Break whatever you want to do into pieces, master each piece and put it all together to dominate.
  4. Seek help! - There are resources all around you. Parents, coaches, teachers, peers, online tutorials, the list goes on. If you want to do something chances are there is someone nearby that can help you out.  
  5. Disconnect! - Stop worrying so much about what others are doing and focus on what matters. Put your phone down and do not check social media for a few days. Likewise do not do something new just to post about it to your friends and followers: do it for yourself. 

So go learn a new instrument. Try out some public speaking. Ask out the person you have been scared to approach. Do something that would usually make you 'uncool'. Above all, when you feel intimidated by something just take a deep breath and dive in.   

top five reasons kids with their own boats should still come to our camp

The biggest part of my 'off-season' job as a camp owner is to speak with families (on the phone, Skype, in person, or over e-mail) and answer their questions about our program. One question I hear a lot goes something like this:

My (son/daughter) is really into (wakeboarding/waterskiing/wakesurfing) and we want (him/her) to learn new skills but we have a boat and a lake house so we can probably teach them ourselves so why should we spend the money on your camp?

My answer is usually some combination of the below Top Five reasons kids with their own ridiculous lake setup should still come to Water Monkey Camp:

Camp makes for instant friendships.

Fun and Camaraderie - Anyone who has been away to camp (especially Water Monkey) knows that camp is more than just the activities offered. Nowhere else do kids meet one day as total strangers and become inseparable best friends by Day 2. Camp is a catalyst for friendships that will last a lifetime. The watersports may be why campers come but the good times with other kids are what stay with them when they go home. 

Early AM group stretch.

Social Interaction (of the in-person variety) - Cell phones and social media have changed the way people interact to the detriment of us all. Camp is a rare break in a camper's life of nonstop social media bombardment. At camp kids are forced to interact with each other from the moment they arrive until their parents show up to take them home. This could be as simple as a cabin of campers figuring out how to share the sink to brush their teeth at night to a camper talking one-on-one with a coach to work out how to improve at a certain skill or just a few guys and girls sitting and joking around after lunch. As texting and Snapchatting replace actual human interaction it is always great to see kids talking to each other the old fashioned way.

Skis and smiles.

Top Level Coaches - I get it, you have a brand new $125,000 wake boat on a beautiful lake near your hometown and all the gear you could possibly need for a summer out on the water. What you are missing, though, is trained coaches who dedicate their lives to pursuing the sports we offer at camp. The progression that we see in just a week is often insane. First-time waterskiers that leave after a week having progressed to using just one ski (slalom). Kids who have never heard of wakesurfing not only getting up but dropping the rope and surfing. Intermediate wakeboarders throwing down back rolls and tantrums having never tried an inverted trick before coming here. The program we have created in combination with the unintimidating atmosphere of learning and fun allows campers to significantly boost their skills in a short time. These skills are brought back to your lake for the rest of the summer and onwards to continue progressing and share with other family and friends. Yes, you can have fun on your own boat all summer long but what our coaches provide is that extra push to do something great.

Safety first.

Safety While Learning New Skills - Just because you have that nice boat and have dialed in the wake just right does not mean that you can safely teach your child at home to launch over the wake and learn tricks without some injuries as a byproduct. Our above-mentioned coaches prioritize safety during each campers' progression so that they are building new skills over a foundation of old ones and never getting out of control. Kids are fearless and our job at camp is to focus their energy and training into results without unnecessary hospital visits. 

Independence! - Possibly the most important aspect of coming to camp is the sense of independence from home, parents, friends, judgement, comfort zone, etc etc the list goes on forever. So many kids who are too shy in front of their parents to speak up or try something new will jump at the opportunity once away at camp. I cannot tell you how many times we hear each summer how a camper returned home a new person with more self confidence and self esteem. The feeling of being away at camp - a feeling I still remember 20 years later - is simultaneously exciting, scary, invigorating, and hard to describe to anyone who has not experienced it themselves.

"boating industry" letter to the new president

At Water Monkey Camp we do not have many rules...we want campers to listen to our coaches, respect each other and the environment, eat well and take an occasional shower. One hard and fast rule, however, is we do not talk politics. A simple political discussion can morph into a heated argument as individuals try to express their own deeply held beliefs. That being said, this open letter in "Boating Industry" magazine (link below) is some non-partisan wisdom from a guy who certainly knows his stuff.

An open letter to President Trump from Bill Yeargin, CEO of Correct Craft

The letter is not long and quite worth the read.  Mr. Yeargin runs one of the largest boat companies in the world (Correct Craft manufactures Nautique boats), has served on the Commerce Department Manufacturing Council on behalf of U.S. manufacturers, and has traveled the world conducting business in dozens of countries.  All of this has given him a unique perspective on U.S. policy that he concisely shares in his letter.

Just because we do not get political at camp does not mean I did not vote!

Finn helped me vote this year.

Costa Rica & renewable energy

With all the not so great news in 2016 I thought this was a pretty uplifting story to close out the year:

Costa Rica used 98% renewable energy in 2016

Like they mention in the article, CR is small and has unique natural resources to make this happen but hopefully other Central American and Caribbean countries will follow their lead and start making a major impact on global CO2 emissions.  If enough nations switch to renewables then maybe there will be enough peer pressure and technological scale to get the U.S. on the right track as well.  

It is a new year, anything is possible, right?