Dear Mountain Mama,
I’m a cool, outdoorsy chic in my late twenties looking for that special someone. Up until now, I’ve been focusing on my education and getting started with my career. I am finally at a point where I have the time and energy to date.
On the weekend, I spend most of my free time camping and hiking with the same circle of friends I’ve hung out with since college. The problem is, all the guys seem more like brothers than someone I’d date. I’ve heard that a lot of guys whitewater kayak. Is that where all the action is? Should I start paddling to meet guys?
Thanks,
Wanting Someone Special
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Dear Wanting Someone Special,
Dedicating time and energy towards your education and career makes sense during your twenties. But no matter how successful you are in the other aspects of your life, romantic love remains at the very core of our humanity. Loving another brings out the best in a person.
Opening yourself up to the possibility of love is an essential starting point for finding it, but do so with the integrity of living your own life with authenticity. The irony of love is that as absolutely fundamental as it is to our happiness, love can’t be forced or chased.
Wanting Someone Special, if you’re curious about whitewater kayaking, by all means give it a go. But boating in order to find a date is lame. There’s a saying about kayaking guys that “the odds are good, but the goods are odd.”
Kayakers are a strange lot. We wear nose plugs, and silly looking neoprene that often reeks of boater funk. We disappear whenever it rains and often return home later than we say we will. River time happens to even the most dependable boaters. An epic happens, which can’t be helped. Or we lose all sense of time and minutes slip into hours somewhere between the take-out and the put-in. We talk about rivers and rapids and holes and swims endlessly, which can prove to be quite a bore to folks who don’t kayak.
Paddle if you want to learn to whitewater kayak, Wanting Someone Special. But if it’s dating that you’re really after, I’d suggest putting your best, most sincere and humorous self out there, both online and in person. Be open and engaging with strangers and among your circle of friends. Embrace all the beautiful, wonderful things about your self, and seek out the best characteristics of others.
Most of all, believe in the fairy tale!
Mountain Mama
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