Discovering life - being asked

- Was I alive today?
Yes!

- What new things have I discovered about life?
Perhaps there isn’t all that much that’s really new or surprising… It’s a wonderful feeling when a stage of work is finished… and how wonderfully relieving and marvellous it is when a friend gives you a skilful massage afterwards to relieve your legs of the strain they’ve been under.

And I learnt a new trick from an experienced shipbuilder. If there’s water in a hard-to-reach corner and you’re not in a hurry, just hang a piece of kitchen roll in there. It soaks up all the water – and the water evaporates. That way, you can get the corner dry.

- What new things have I discovered about myself?

Today I was working on board and, together with a fit chap, hauled about 700 kilos of ballast stones from the ship to the shore, 30 metres away. That was quite a feat. But it was a wonderful feeling to have finished and not be able to do anything else (because the sandblaster was on board at the time and we couldn’t carry out any further work inside the ship). It was simply lovely to sit on deck for a few minutes after work.

What surprised me was just how many questions he asked me. We didn’t know each other yet – he’s a friend’s flatmate – and he asked me all sorts of things. I was really taken aback. Normally, I’m the one who asks the questions – in coaching, but also in a private context. People rarely ask me questions. Perhaps because they think they already know a lot about me. Or perhaps because they don’t want to be intrusive. Being asked so many questions myself and sensing genuine interest really touched me deeply.