Help! I’ve fallen and you know what, I can get up.
That’s my new motto after this last weekend’s rope course adventure when I literally fell, and not just a little fall. It was a pretty spectacular one. I have the bruises to prove it.
A bit of background, a ropes course is a series of challenges designed not only to test one physically but mentally as well and part of my Power 90 program is a ropes course. Our assignment going into the course was to pick the biggest hang up or challenge that we’ve been facing when it comes to accomplishing our Power 90 goal, which in my case has been to finish 2 screenwriting projects that have been just floating around close to being done, but for whatever reason, I haven’t finished. My 2 hang-ups were #1 that “I’m not good enough” and #2 that I have all of this energy, but it’s not focused in any one direction, so energy is wasted.
So as we pulled up to the ropes course a very early and snowy Saturday morning, I really had no idea what to expect. I’d heard stories, but it’s not until you actually see it that it sinks in. Our first activity was more of a brain teaser than anything particularly physical, but it was a way for us to start working together. The 2nd activity was much more challenging. We had to get 17 people crowded on one small platform to an even smaller platform across a “pit of dragon guano” that would kill us instantly if we touched the ground. The only means of transportation was a rope hanging from a tree. Needless to say, this is where things started getting interesting or painful, depending on how you look at it.
Things started off fine, we had a couple of young kids who could just fly across and help everyone at the landing. We got 6 or 7 across without any incident, and then it was my turn. Now I’m not at all athletic, you could even say that I’m challenged. Seriously, I tore my meniscus walking down the stairs, so I had my work cut out for me. Everyone was helping me get secured on the rope when someone lost their grip on me and I started swinging across.
Now as much as I would like to think that I’m as cool as Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone when she swings across the gorge, that’s just not me. I only got about ½ way across when I got spun around and lost my grip and fell.
Hard.
I landed on my hip and back then smacked the back of my head. It was all I could do to lay there because I was beyond dazed. Thankfully I never lost consciousness. As I got up and hobbled off to the side, it was dead silent. Everyone was stunned almost as bad I was. But it was also the moment when the tone of the entire day changed. I think for the better. The entire group became more focused and there was an attitude of no one is going to be left behind. Everyone was much more conscious as they took their time getting people on the rope.
It took me several minutes to get back up and moving, but I wanted to finish the challenge. That was the moment when I realized that it doesn’t matter how hard I fall, or how many bruises I get or how battered I am, I can get up and I can keep going, even if I’m in pain or moving really, really slow. Knowing that it was going to be really too hard for me to cross on the rope, I took advantage of the “golden shoes” that I was awarded and took hold of the rope and walked across. Everyone greeted me as enthusiastically as if swung across. I was able to finish the challenge, even if it wasn’t exactly how I imagined.
The next challenge was a 2-parter. The first one was done silently, which was kind of cool. Everyone took turns lying down on the ground and we lifted them up. I have to admit, when it was my turn, I kept thinking, “please don’t drop me, please don’t drop me”. Thankfully, I wasn’t dropped and it was even cool to be lifted up by everyone. The next part was even more challenging. It was the Trust Fall.
And I was absolutely terrified. Thank goodness for my buddy, Christine and Doug. I needed and got a lot of hugs. By the time I climbed up onto the top of the stump, I was shaking. It was really hard. Even now as I think about it, I’m getting all teary. I knew that everyone was there, waiting to catch me, but it required me to let go of pretty much everything. But I did it. :)
Of course when I landed, I was apologizing to everyone, because I was afraid I hurt them. Instead, everyone was telling me how proud they were of me and I felt really loved and taken care of. It was a good reminder: I’m not alone, and I have people who really do love and care about me. I’m also more capable than I often give myself credit for. For me, it’s easy to not judge other people, but it’s really hard for me to not judge myself.
After that, we had a lunch break. Gotta love Wendy’s. But the nice thing was that, people were still worried about me and kept checking on me to make sure that I was okay.
So that's the end of part 1. I'll finish the test of my tale tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment