People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocracy, no matter what their talents

I came across this quote in a book entitled Fearless: One Woman, One Kayak, One Continent. I’ve been reading this book because I’m too lazy to do much else. My excuse is that winter is wearing me down. My teeth might also be infected, which is further taking it out of me. These, I know, are just excuses.

So rather than act in a motivated fashion, I instead am reading about Freya Hoffmeister’s circumnavigation around Australia, by kayak.

Bay of Fundy Kayak Saffari

To begin, the cover is off-putting – it shows the woman, dressed in neoprene, holding two paddles in front of her, crosswise. She’s wearing orange-lensed wraparound sunglasses and the paddles (as the author notes) are crossed at crotch level.

The title also contains a misnomer. It reads: One Kayak. The truth be known, she paddled two kayaks. The first was, halfway through her trip replaced with a custom made kayak.

I of course wish that she had written this book. Instead, it is the observations of Joe Glickman, who paints a very uncomplimentary picture of this woman. He focuses on her public persona – she comes across as a narcissist: brash, egotistical, and overly self-confident. She also has a penchant for drawing attention to herself by wearing tight fitting clothing and making outrageous statements such as “I am a man eater.”

Glickman also portrays her as being fearless.

Glickman is a naysayer, as are all the Australian men keeping tabs on her trek, via her blog.

I don’t believe that Freya is totally as Glickman portrays her. I think she has another side to her, one that is kind, compassionate, and thoughtful. Perhaps if she showed this side, she’d be letting down her guard.

It’s as Freya progresses with her trip that the naysayers begin to show her a bit of respect.

Naysayers—generally they are envious, wishing that they could do what others are doing, but for the most part sadly lacking in motivation.

And so here I was, reading this book while bemoaning the fact that doing outside chores is difficult, due to the fact that I have to deal with deep, crusty snow.

Never mind that I could have been getting creative or technical writing done. Instead, I was for a better part of the day crashed out on the bed.

I finally gave myself a good talking to and got out and took the dogs for a walk and Tinni for an aborted walk (this before I was told by a guy driving a pickup truck that the road grader was coming.

I got all the animal pens cleaned, even though this meant that I had to pull several loads of soiled bedding up behind the hoop house. And I also (with Pete) took Hrimmi and Raudi for a walk around the loop.

I am going to keep this quote handy because rereading it may motivate me to get stuff done. I do not want to succumb to mediocracy.

Next: 55. 2/25/22: One Day at a Time