It has been a while since the last post, and now that Fall is upon us, it is time for reflection. The drastic change to summer plans came about for many reasons, some personal, some business. Without being able to deliver a program to satisfaction, it was fully cancelled. Working with the school continued on the level of developing program, guiding behavioral decisions, and of course getting outside with students and on my personal time.
As I was preparing for a long day hike with a regular hiking partner, my son asked to come along. We had a conversation about training and practicing before being able to do a hike like this. When he asked why, my answer was simply because they are hard. His perfect response was, “Why do you do it, if it is hard?”
Of course the easy answer is because I like to hike and there can be amazing views. There is always the companionship of friends and strangers engaged in the hike. The feeling of accomplishment when you are on top of a mountain or when you finally return to the car in the lot at the bottom. And of course the deepest reason of all is to continue to show to ourselves that we can do hard things.
The driving force in hiking mountains, the use of our challenge course, setting group norms and working together is to show that it can be done. When we come across a challenge in daily life we have the memory of past struggle, a lesson from a first attempt in learning (fail), and the strength and resilience that life has given us.
Keep adventuring, keep challenging yourself and others, keep going and keep growing!
And don’t worry, my son gets to pick the hike now and then.
Off belay.
Sirius Fun 
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