On the Ottawa river, one of the most important factors on the river is confidence. Being confident on the river can contribute to a number of things such as your skill level, the amount of control you have in a given situation, and your comfortability in large rapids. Being a Keener is all about improvement, whether it's physically, through the training and day to day paddling, or whether it's mentally, meaning improving your confidence in stressful situations and in large rapids. Fear is known to be an emotion that leads us to smarter decisions, and the safety of yourself, but Keeners are taught to defy that feeling and make sure you can make it through stressful situations with a calm and controlled mindset.
Other feelings of discomfort in large rapids are led to make us push ourselves past our limits to makes sure we nail our lines and ultimately improve our confidence in the water. Comparing the situations that the Keener program has put me through, opposed to the situations I have experienced on a variety of rivers, helps show that in a stressful situation in the future, both my first aid training and swift water rescue training will be extremely helpful, assuming that these situations do occur. All in all, being a Keener includes overcoming fear to ultimately feel more calm, controlled, and comfortable in terrible situations.
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