I am a kite junkie. After a day or two without kiting I start to get pretty desperate. I need my kitesurfing fix to remain sane. I joke that I now understand drug addicts better. I can relate to the feeling of needing something to which you are addicted - and doing whatever it takes to get it.
Last week I injured my wrist. For a couple of days I wasn't sure how serious it was and how long I might need to stay out of the water. Needless to say I was VERY concerned. The idea of not being able to kite for weeks, or even months, (specially now in the middle of the kite racing season) was devastating. In short, I was desperate. And desperate people do desperate things. What did I do? Fortunately, nothing too radical ;-). A few weeks earlier my mother had been in town and brought some Peyote cream. She said it had done wonders for her knee. At the time I was pretty dismissive. Peyote? Isn't that what some native americans smoke (or chew?) to hallucinate? At least that is what I remembered from Carlos Castaneda... Yet when my ability to kite was at stake, I was willing to try anything. Where is that Peyote cream?
The incident got me thinking about the crazy things that people do when they are really desperate - and the many people that try to take advantage of them. Need to recover a loved one? Need to lose weight? Need a job? Any route that offers hope is worth exploring - even if under normal circumstances we know it would be silly.
What is the take-away? Be on the lookout for crazy things we (or our loved ones) might do in desperate situations. Pay attention to the downside. Most times there isn't much downside: the cream doesn't help, the psychic doesn't change things, we waste a bit of money. But other times we might make matters significantly worst...
As to my wrist, I am glad to report that immobilizing it with a brace is making it better. And I can even kite with the brace :-). The Peyote cream, on the other hand, didn't seem to help.
Last week I injured my wrist. For a couple of days I wasn't sure how serious it was and how long I might need to stay out of the water. Needless to say I was VERY concerned. The idea of not being able to kite for weeks, or even months, (specially now in the middle of the kite racing season) was devastating. In short, I was desperate. And desperate people do desperate things. What did I do? Fortunately, nothing too radical ;-). A few weeks earlier my mother had been in town and brought some Peyote cream. She said it had done wonders for her knee. At the time I was pretty dismissive. Peyote? Isn't that what some native americans smoke (or chew?) to hallucinate? At least that is what I remembered from Carlos Castaneda... Yet when my ability to kite was at stake, I was willing to try anything. Where is that Peyote cream?
The incident got me thinking about the crazy things that people do when they are really desperate - and the many people that try to take advantage of them. Need to recover a loved one? Need to lose weight? Need a job? Any route that offers hope is worth exploring - even if under normal circumstances we know it would be silly.
What is the take-away? Be on the lookout for crazy things we (or our loved ones) might do in desperate situations. Pay attention to the downside. Most times there isn't much downside: the cream doesn't help, the psychic doesn't change things, we waste a bit of money. But other times we might make matters significantly worst...
As to my wrist, I am glad to report that immobilizing it with a brace is making it better. And I can even kite with the brace :-). The Peyote cream, on the other hand, didn't seem to help.
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