Why Facing Your Fears at Keeners is Important by Sila Griffin

While facing your fears in general is an important thing to practice, at Keeners is it crucial. It is so crucial because to progress in this program I had to push my self out of my comfort zone every single day in order to both get better at kayaking and grow as a person. Our first day on the water this session seemed incredibly huge and scary to me and the rapids were a lot bigger than anything I had ever run before so I was really nervous. However, I convinced myself to not walk anything and I am forever grateful that I made that choice. By pushing myself out of my comfort zone and running scary, but safe rapids in a safe, controlled environment, I progressed a lot in both skill and confidence. What seemed huge and scary the first day gets less and less terrifying every single time I run it, my whole perspective on what is “sketchy” has changed dramatically. Keeners builds a perfect environment of both support if you choose not to run a rapid but also encouragement if you choose to run it, letting Keeners do challenge by choice. While it is a choice whether to push out of yourself out of your comfort zone, it is important to choose to do so. Over the last two weeks that I have gotten the privilege to spend at the Keener program, I realized that you get out of it what you put in. The more a Keener pushes themselves throughout the three weeks the more they progress as both a kayaker and a young adult.