5 Life Lessons Learned from The Yellowstone River

We heard enormous amounts of water rushing below us. The New Moon provided no light so I wore a headlamp to help us navigate the river. “Paddle right. Large boulder coming up,” I yelled. When the daunting sound below us became louder, the four of us agreed to pull over and further evaluate our situation.
My husband paddled our boat to the side of the river and tied it off to a large rock. “I’m going to take the light and scramble these rocks to see what’s below us.” Uncertain that our anchor rope would hold, I clung to a boulder on the shore. After recently finishing an article about the prevalence of wolves in Montana, I imagined one coming down the embankment to sniff us out. I decided that our anchor would work as I moved my hands back into the boat and looked up to appreciate the millions of stars above us.
After 20 minutes, my husband returned to report that the rapids below appeared larger than any we had encountered that day, but as far as he could tell, there was no waterfall. We waited for the other boat for nearly 45 minutes. Surprisingly, we heard voices from above. “You missed your turnout,” our Montana friend Kris yelled. “Pulling the boat out here is not an option. You must continue down the river to the next pullout.”
Before leaving, Kris scrambled down the steep rocky embankment to grab our 7 year old son out of the boat and bring him to her jeep. She would drive him down the road to later meet up with us when we finally reached the pullout. It could be hours.
We untied from our anchor and began floating down the river. As we approached the rapids in total darkness, I scanned the river with my dimly lit headlamp. A sense of utter focus enveloped me. I listened intently as I felt every move the boat made beneath me. In total confidence I yelled louder than the river. “Paddle left oar. Now paddle right. You have a huge boulder coming up on your left. Faster, faster.” My friend Debbie sat in the back of the boat and calmly reiterated my cues to make sure my husband could here them over the river’s roar. This went on for almost three hours.
After periods of intensity followed by calm waters, we saw our friends shining lights at us. It was midnight and we had finally reached our turnout. We were cold, thankful and buzzing with fear and excitement. It felt like I had been living on the river my whole life, but the truth was, I had never been in a situation like this. None of us had, yet we had been working in total unison for hours.
The next morning, all of us gathered for breakfast to “debrief”. We discussed how our boats became separated and what we could have done differently to avoid going down the river in the dark. Though we had all experienced different degrees of emotions the night before, we all felt a heightened sense of being alive. Clearly we were on to something.
During our 8 hour drive later that afternoon, I went over the scenario in my head repeatedly. What made last night’s experience so daunting, yet attractive? What lessons could we take away from the experience?
The following are 5 of the life lessons I learned from the river that night.
1.    We were focused because we had nothing else to focus on and it was imperative that we pay attention. Our cell phones did not work, we had no access to the internet, and it was our responsibility to depend on ourselves for survival. We were not in a position to be distracted.
Lesson: Take time away from technology and put yourself in situations where you must focus. This will force you to become more in tune with your surroundings.
2.    As a result of being outside of our comfort zone, we were forced to rely on our senses.
Lesson: Getting outside of your comfort zone is paramount to feeling engaged in life. If you are not comfortable in the outdoors, choose a local hike and go for it. Eventually work your way up to larger and more remote peaks. Or if you already participate in outdoor activities, try something you have never done before. Enter a triathlon or a bike race or a running race. Once you decide what it is you are going to do, surround yourself with people who are already doing it. Ask lots of questions and find out how to go about accomplishing your goal. When you live outside of your comfort zone you expand mentally, emotionally and physically. Don’t let your senses be drowned by the busy world we live in. Take time to see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Most importantly though, take the time to feel alive.
3.    Our situation on the river led to greater respect for each other and stronger friendships.
Lesson: One way to form tighter bonds with people is to go outside of your comfort zones together. You really realize who someone is when you put them in an uncomfortable situation. Most people will use their strengths and rise to the occasion. Or, you may see someone’s true colors and realize that you are not as compatible as you thought you were. We were lucky enough to see the good in each other.
4.    Being outside of our comfort zone can lead to a feeling of accomplishment which will boost confidence.
Lesson: Being in an exciting or uncomfortable situation forces you to use new parts of your physical and emotional being in order to succeed. It takes doing something repeatedly to master it, and during that process you will experience failures and successes. However, if you learn from your failures and stand right back up you will gain a boost in self confidence which will lead to additional success.
5.    Be forward thinking. Having the headlamp in my backpack made our nighttime river experience turn out better then it could have. Without it we may not have had the same outcome.
Lesson: Be prepared when you embark on a new adventure or step out of your comfort zone. Have the correct equipment and do your homework. Surround yourself with people who can offer you advice from their experiences and ask lots of questions. People love to talk about themselves and share their passions with others.
If the river had been higher, our night on the Yellowstone River could have been a disaster. Instead, I will always remember it as a grand evening with a million shining stars above me!