Putting Trust in A Stranger

Last Sunday, quite early in the morning, some of my teammates and I got together for a team building adventure! Fellow Lady of Laceration, J-Bone came up with AND organized this amazing idea. Her intentions were to find a fun way for us to get to know each other better and learn to work well together. Both of those intentions were fulfilled, but so much more happened too!

Going into the team building, I didn't know very much about it . In my head I imagined a physically challenging path filled with giant obstacle courses, barrels to jump over, one legged races and swinging from some rope over a small body of water, that sort of thing. Although the course did have some daunting terrain, the drills were more mentally and emotionally challenging than I ever could have prepared for.

For those of you who have never experienced a team building adventure, I'll fill you in on how it works. We gathered, in this case, at Alley Pond Park and signed up to be placed in a group. A group leader then met with us. Our group just happened to be all females, aged from 8-years-old all the way up to around 40-something. After we introduced ourselves to one another, our leader started the 11 of us off with a fun and easy game of knee tag (easy for some, let's just say this one wasn't my forte). After that we were on to our first real drill. Without giving too much away, I will try and explain what took place. (Don't want to ruin the surprise for those of you who might be interested in going on a team building adventure.) Just imagine 11 people all fitting into an extremely small space and having to move to other spaces with the help of one another by using planks of wood that you cannot drop. Ok this might be hard to picture without a visual, but the idea here is that everyone work together, help each other and come up with the best possible plan to get everyone to where they need to be. My group successfully accomplished this drill and we moved on to the next one. As we proceeded, the challenges became more and more mentally challenging.

For a long time now, roller derby has helped me tackle difficult scenarios in life. Many times when I'm faced with something I am worried about, I think to myself, "I've played roller derby, I can do this too", whatever that "this" may be. Sunday however, that theory was completely thrown out the window. Again, without going into too much detail, I tackled one of my biggest fears (going blind), albeit temporarily, but still it was difficult. I had two anxiety attacks during that drill, put trust in a 14-year-old stranger and as a result came out a stronger person. With the risk of sounding too dramatic, it was probably one of the scariest things I've done.

We all reached new heights, both on foot and in our hearts and heads. I didn't break a sweat, but the amount of adrenaline that I produced had me out for the count about an hour after the adventure was over. I would highly recommend this course to teams, people looking to try out something new, or people who would like to overcome problems that they might be having with themselves or with another. J-Bone (above) as she gets ready to leap into the air!

Tripsy Rose Lee, laughing it up! PMS'er Her Up, just about at the top Muscles Marinara, getting geared up before her climb

Read here for more information. There are two free adventure courses on Sundays, a morning and an afternoon. They are first come first serve, so be sure and get there early!!

xoxo

Etta