The Plan.

Tonight was a lesson on ‘the plan’. I have heard it said recently that the difference between those who succeed in sport and those who don’t is the willingness to follow the plan regardless of how they feel. If the plan says you need to go to the gym, you go to the gym whether you feel like it or not. Now I want to get good at sailing again and a few recent experiences has shown me not only that I need to spend more time sailing, but that it cannot be at the expense of fitness training and especially strength training. So I’ve joined the local council leisure centre gym and even, and this is something something indeed, even managed a run first thing today. That way I could sail tonight but still get some fitness work in.

Sounds easy? Well it was until something sent me over the D edge today for a bit. Now I’m quite open about having fairly severe depression and somethings can set me off, and one did today. It was a fairly short, but sharp dip in mood but it did leave me a bit dead tonight. The plan had said go sailing tonight but I didn’t feel like it. To make it worse the forecast was for the wind to go to zilch, but pick up a bit later. Not an enticing prospect to be honest. But I went out, aided by the thought that being on the water always makes me feel better.

And how was it? Good actually. I flapped about for a bit in almost zero wind but after a while a new breeze arrived. Slowly and very local to the cliffs at first but gradually building to side decking. The idea for tonight was to work on my tacking which is rubbish, but better on one tack than the other. And do you know what? It worked and I cracked my rubbish tacking by noticing that on one tack I tuck the extension in to my tummy and on the bad tack I was trying to get it past the mainsheet. Once noticed, the fix was almost immediate and pretty soon my tacking was up to ‘reasonable’ on both tacks. Not only that – but my mood and outlook was also fixed at the same time.

So there we have it – stick to the plan, and the plan will stick with you