Chris Wing, USNWC Instructor
http://www.h2odreams.com/
About Chris:
I have been a kayaker/instructor for 8 years and presently work as an instructor trainer at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. I had a unique start with the sport as I learned to teach while I learned to kayak. My career as an instructor has taken me from the rivers of the mid-west to the northeast and presently to the southeast working for such schools as 41 North, NOC and currently the USNWC.
I have started to broaden the scope of my career in kayaking to include competitive freestyle kayaking and extreme racing. I look forward to the many lifestyle changes required to become an accomplished athlete. I will live a highly unconventional lifestyle of living out of a vehicle, traveling the road to personal achievement. I have learned that my only limitations are those that I put on myself and I look forward to breaking through the barriers both physical and emotional that I may perceive.
I try day in and day out to become a balanced person because I feel it is a good place to be. I always look forward to the future because that is where I am going next. I try not to dwell in the past because It’s only where I have been. This is me and I’m only becoming better.
What was your initial dream for your business or lifestyle (or both!)?
My initial dream for my current lifestyle was simply to live a life that I would take an active part in. I spent many years in college feeling stagnant and complacent with my life. My goal was to never live that way again. It turns out that I was able to make my lifestyle my business as well.
Can you explain the fear and perseverance it took for you to bring your dream to reality?
I do not feel that you ever overcome the fear of the unknown, the fear of failure, or the fear of disapproval from peers and loved ones. I think it is natural for any reasonable person to have this disposition, however I cannot allow for it to drive my life. That is the very definition of perseverance to me. I had to leave the comforts that I had come to know and adapt to a new environment in order to excel with my goals.
Now that you are either working on your dream or living your dream, is it the same vision you originally had or has it changed along the way?
I like to use an analogy of a river for planning for the future. Just as a paddler looks at a rapid and makes their plan of how to negotiate a rapid, they are basing their assumptions upon what they can see on the surface. The surface of the river is a very small portion of what will actually affect the paddler. There are many factors lying under the surface that can have a very dramatic effect. When a paddler gains a deeper understanding of the river they begin to understand what is happening below the surface and therefore their plan becomes more thorough. Planning for life is very much like planning for a rapid on a river, initially your perception of dreams and goals may be a bit shallow, however the more deep you delve into yourself and the world around you the more you understand how you will fit into it. So yes, it has changed and I sometimes enjoy the entropy of the process.
What has been your biggest challenge in accomplishing your dream?
Honestly, overcoming naysayer and seeking out a support structure. The funny part is much of the support structure is already in front of you. My family has always been there to help, despite how half-baked my ideas were at times. They also keep things extremely real for you as they are cautious of your decisions (laugh). I sought out people specifically in my sport that I try to model myself after and surround myself with them. It can be a bit intimidating introducing one self to someone who has already been extremely successful at what you are trying to do.
What motivates you to keep building, growing or pushing for your dream?
I have received a lot of good advice over the past couple of years, but my motivation and inspiration never really came from one particular individual. My drive really is a philosophy of how to live life and I have had many great influences on how to do it right and some influences on how to do it badly. I think you need to have both to realize you can be living on this thin line between the two. Some of the strongest words I remember recently have been those that spoke about the ability to make the most of any momentous occasion in your life. It currently has inspired me to make the most of each situation and realize it will not be the end all, be all. Life is a series of moments and I want to remember my moments as putting a smile on my face.
