Welcome back to Paddle and Flow!

After a three week break, Alex and Nicola are back with their 13th Episode - The Fear of Failure.

This topic felt like a natural next step following our multipart discussion about paddling and social media. We’re interested to find out whether a fear of failing is something we’re seeing more than we used to when it comes to paddling.

Had the thought of making a mistake stopped you from going paddling?

Alex talks about his experiences with kayak fishing and the prospect of not catching fish, while Nicola shares her fear of trying a new boat in front of an audience of strangers.

We chat about the internal and external factors that might be at play when we decide not to do something we’d planned to do, and we ask how we measure failure.

Are we afraid to start something because of the fear of not being able to complete it or because we’re scared we’ll mess up?

Are we more likely to avoid situations that might not work out as we’d hoped or do we embrace our mistakes, learn and move on? Can we improve if we don’t try?

What makes us feel safe to try even if we may not succeed?

Does the fear of failure feature in your paddling and how? We’d love to know your thoughts and experiences.

Thanks for listening and remember, if you never try, then you’ll never know! Happy paddling, stay safe 🙂

⁠⁠ELKayak Fish - YouTube⁠⁠ - Alex’s kayak fishing channel.

⁠⁠P&H Custom Sea Kayaks⁠⁠ - Nicola’s P&H Virgo MV

⁠⁠Sturgeon Sit On Top Fishing Kayak - Galaxy Kayaks⁠⁠ - Alex’s fishing kayak