Challenged in the Highland of Scotland, October 2008

My last entry touched on challenges and the journey of where they take you in life and the learning experienced from them. How we all deal with such circumstances is different, yet ultimately, they serve a unified purpose in terms of lessons learned. Without God pushing us against the very boundaries of life at times, it would be so easy to become complacent. With complacency there leads a lack of motivation and personal growth. So all in all, whatever we face serve us in some way. This may not be clear at the time, but it will certainly prove true at some point in the future, when we look back on what was and when we can face the truth of what we needed to learn from that experience.

Last week, I went to Scotland as part of a training initiative to tackle gun and knife crime.It was a Youth Leadership Programme, designed to take us outside our comfort zones, which it certainly did. Leadership skills were challenged from many different angles from the emotional, spiritual, physical to the psychological. Many who went, I am sure, felt themselves pushed against the wall of no return, yet at the end of the week, realised that yes they had survived. All body pieces still nicely intact. Thereby identifying that the human spirit is certainly one of tremendous strength and courage and when the tough gets going, the going gets tough.

Part of my experience up in the Scottish Highlands was a survival phase. This involved being kitted out in water-proof gear and being driven across wind swept seas to a secluded island. In gale force winds, we had to carry heavy rucksacks, fish for food which predominantly consisted of mussels and limpets (shell fish). Our teams then had to strategise to build tents and fires. Digging the “pooh” pit was one of my chores and it was at that point realisation hit. It was intriguing trying to decipher the best spot to dig this pit, whether to do this so that one leant against a tree or did I position the hole so that one held onto a tree as one positioned oneself to do “the job.”
It was certainly an amazing how everything around us can be used in some way to form part of a survival strategy.

We were then taken on a range of hair-raising exercises in the cold, hungry as hail and winds lashed us from side to side. We took it in turns to abseil down a cliff, jump off a hill (obviously whilst harnessed to a rope and hoping fervently that team members responded as taught to haul us safely back up, without scratching our faces off on the hillside). We had numerous psychological exercises to perform.

We then had to trudge back for approximately 45 minutes to camp through calf high mud, slipping and sliding in near darkness. Working as a team to keep up morale was great. Everyone helped and supported each other and boosted each other’s spirits and as it steadily grew darker and colder, the realisation that when we got back to camp, we still had to cook and there were only a few rations of mussels and limpets certainly did not make many happy bunnies. Our last activity was sold to us as being given a treat. I am glad that at that point we did not turn around and try to head home because we would never had eaten that night. Upon going on a bit of a treasure hunt to find this “gift” we then had to crack a code to get into the boxes which housed our rations. A few potatoes, some rice, a few carrots, porridge oats, raisins, a few tea bags and oxo cubes. No-one dared to complain, hunger was already making many miserable.

Back at camp the cooking proceeded with only a few small pans to use. Each team member had a role to play. We used a flat rock to cook the limpets on. Limpets look like snails with little antennaes. At first I refused to look at these little, fat creatures with two horns protruding from their being, but we were told they were nutritious and I had not eaten all day, therefore closing my eyes and thinking of a nice leg of lamb, I put one in my mouth and then donned many more after that. Tasted like chicken. The rice was well as good as it got. Hard and grainy, soft and lush. The potatoes and carrots were good, until the pan tipped onto the fire and like scavengers we had to pick them up and yes…..eat them.

After cooking, we then played a few mind games and then went to sort of sleeping arrangements. It was certainly fun getting into our sleeping bags and trying not to slide out of our tent, as we had built our base on a bit of a hill. Not that we had much choice in the matter.

The whole experience was a wonderful wake-up call in the realisation of how privileged we really are and how complacent we have all become. Being pushed outside our comfort zones was certainly uncomfortable for many. Not having a routine, not knowing what was around the corner or what to expect in terms of how our day went. The weather pretty much dictated all this. Especially when the next morning we were up early to rise and told that a storm was brewing, gale force 8 and 9’s and that we had to try to leave the island asap, otherwise we’d be stuffed.

For me, the whole week solidified the notion that when pushed outside our zones, we can do anything. Survival instincts kick in and you do what you have to do without moaning, without fear. Complacency keeps up rooted in the box of fear and many never leave that box, always playing it safe and sound. Yet the learning from pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is so invaluable.

This blog entry is not about you going off and doing something totally crazy. The above tale is just to make you think of where you are at in your life and why you are there. Is fear keeping you staked to a place you no longer want or need to be? Have you lost motivation for life and all the wonderful experiences you can access if you really want?

“Move outside of yourself and your comfort zone every once in a while and experience life from a different viewpoint. Inch by inch, step by step you will gain such a wonderful potpourri of life’s dynamic dimensions that you will wonder why you let fear stop you from embracing life. ” Esther Austin