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Brain Mastery and the Beauty of Kayaking

Writer's picture: Jesse FavreJesse Favre

"I'm frustrated and tired," I texted. "I just took a month off my job, shipped myself to France to get away from everything and everybody, and I still can't finish this [pick your preferred profanity] script."

This was more or less the SOS I sent to a fellow performer last December. After spending an entire year working on "Ingrid," I still hadn't finished developing some of the concepts, and I was quickly approaching a review deadline. This, my dear readers, was the worst case of writer's block I had ever experienced in my life.

"It sounds like your brain isn't going to work right now," he responded. "But the good news is you're in PARIS."

I immediately fixated on his first message and felt the panic sink in. He was right. My brain was officially on strike, and there was nothing I could do about it.

After painfully accepting this reality, I could see he had also highlighted a very real choice: I could either be miserable about what seemed like a pathetic personal failure, or I could be a person on a vacation. I mulled over the options and, by the grace of good judgement, I went for the latter.

The rest of my trip was filled with long walks to nowhere in particular and gloriously lazy afternoons sipping espresso. In short, it was everything that Paris should be. I was feeling awfully pleased with myself, outside of the fact that I still didn't have a finished script.

And then something fortuitous happened...

As I boarded the plane to go back to the U.S., I was suddenly struck with a giant burst of energy, which yielded answers to the problems I hadn't been able to solve throughout the entire course of writing the story! I pulled out my cellphone and started feverishly taking notes. I knew that, given a solid thirty minutes on a laptop, my draft was finally going to be complete.


Even typing this, it occurs to me how strange it is to describe an epic battle of me versus my own brain. (Please note that it's taking everything in me to not fall down a philosophical rabbit hole right now.) While I was thrilled to hit the deadline, I also realized there was something besides my show that needed attention. Before me stood the opportunity to better meet my own cognitive needs.

So, during 2022, rather than waiting for my brain to go on strike, I've decided to become a better manager by providing fair working conditions in the first place. And this is where kayaking comes in. (I swear I haven't forgotten the title.)

It occurred to me that kayaking may be a proactive way to signal to my brain that it was OK- in fact, expected- for it to temporarily stop working so hard. Floating in the water, there would be no temptation to grab my laptop, and it'd be nearly impossible to type on my phone, wrapped safely in a plastic bag. (Trust me, I've tried.) I hypothesized that if I kayaked before I needed answers to my work's most challenging questions, my brain would then approach such cognitively effortful tasks from a more well-rested and less cranky place. 

I am pleased to share that this "kayaking method" has not yet disappointed.

So, even on the days when I feel far too busy to take a break- especially on those days- I get out on the water, pause, and practice the French art of doing absolutely nothing. 

Because, as it turns out, sometimes nothing is everything we need.

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