Know Your Priorities. Forget About The Rest.

Eric Jackson has built a life and a career around kayaking, a sport that is foundationally individual. You are alone in a boat. And while kayaking is his life’s purpose, Eric’s responsibilities extend far beyond the river to his family, his business, and his community. But there’s a stark difference between paddling a kayak and navigating a life filled with priorities. It is the age-old outdoor sport conundrum: how do you pursue an individual sport while still being a functional part of a team and family? To answer this for himself, Eric had to become unwavering in the pursuit of his purpose and priorities.

See more of Eric’s kayaking and business running at Jackson Kayak.

Credits: Produced by Paddy O’Connell, Elizabeth Nakano, and Fitz and Becca Cahall. Additional production help from Tasha French Lemley. Edited by Alex Park. Music by Brendan O’Connell.

2 Comments

Britton

I just finished listening to this episode (excellent podcast overall, by the way) and then proceeded to have long conversations with myself and then my husband. Of course, there is all the “But I haven’t discovered my Passion” whining in my head, and I guess I’ll continue to do more of the reading/journaling/experimenting/trying/getting through daily life I’ve been doing for all of my 41 years to see what happens. However, my burning question at the end of the night here is about Mrs Jackson: did she give up her Passion to follow his? Did she have a Passion to give up? Was she able/willing to follow him into his glory, spending decades cleaning the RV and homeschooling the kids? Was *he* her Passion? As a wife, mother, and dabbler, my husband and family are at the top of my priority list, but the next item isn’t Follow Passion. I’m not the one leading a Passion Pursuit in my marriage, so I don’t know if my husband would follow along. But neither has my husband discovered his life’s Worthy Objective, so that I can have on my priority list, “Follow my husband’s passion.” I would be very interested to know the marital side of the story, especially since Mrs Jackson (Christine, was it?) was at the top of Eric’s priority list. How did pursuing his Passion help fuel her’s? I couldn’t help but notice that she’s not mentioned at all in his Wikipedia article or his bio at Jackson Kayak, although his kids are named. Did having his Passion work out for him work out for her? (Oh- and also- The episode with Paddy’s parents was one of the best podcasts I’ve heard because of it’s sincerity. Marriage is so complicated. And dynamic. And worth it.) Thank you.

Eric Jackson

Hi Britton,

Yes, this is a great subject and great question! Kristine was VERY clear in our marriage that she wanted “to have kids and not have to work” as her lifestyle of choice. She didn’t care where she lived, what I did, as long as she could focus her energy on raising kids, being a wife, and following some of her passions which evolved over time from teaching (Homeschool) to gardening, farming (horses, chickens) and travel. She DID want to garden when we lived in an RV full time, but it wasn’t nearly as important as teaching the kids and traveling, for example, so she waited until we got land to start that….

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