In April, I was lucky enough to attend the Outward Bound Mind, Body and Soul 21-day course. This was an amazing opportunity where I challenged myself physically, mentally and learnt so many life skills. I grew strong friendships within Batten watch. The trusting, supportive and humorous environment we created meant everyone was able to accomplish something while having a good time.

As part of Batten 700 (14-member watch), I had a lot of early mornings, numerous sore muscles, and very few hot showers. A typical day involved waking up at 6 am for PT, which involved a warm-up, 3 km run and full body immersion in the ocean, all done in silence. We then moved on with the day, often not knowing where the day would take us till after breakfast. The course was action-packed, with every day having a different physical challenge. This included tramping, sailing, waka ama, coasteering, rock climbing and more.

A highlight of mine was coasteering. The support in the watch meant I challenged myself and jumped off cliffs that I couldn’t have ever imagined jumping from in the past. Another highlight was all the schemes we went on. We sailed with dolphins, slept under tarps and got lost in the bush on numerous occasions, which I came to learn was ‘type 2’ fun. Our late arrival back from one of our tramping schemes meant having to jump off the jetty just a few minutes before we needed to be at dinner, it didn’t feel too enjoyable at the time, but the laughs over the dinner table that night made it all worth it. One of the hardest physical challenges was the half marathon on the last full day of the course. I set the goal for myself to run the whole thing, which at times got hard with the 3.5 km constant uphill. But the accomplishment I felt at the finish line knowing I ran a half marathon was worth it.

Along with all the physical challenges, I experienced and learnt a lot of life lessons. We spent time reflecting on our values to help us when we have to make tough decisions in the future. Being on solo for close to 40 hours taught me how independent I can be, and gave me a chance to set goals and catch up on some much-needed rest. Things I’ll be taking away from the course are to make sure I give everything a go and not cut myself short. The mind often gives up before the body, and at Outward Bound I got to experience how far I can push myself and what I can accomplish when I do. I’d like to thank the Otago Community Trust for giving me the opportunity to have the experience of a lifetime. For anyone who is considering an opportunity like this, I would highly recommend it and as my instructor Horey would say, “if you have to eat a frog, don’t look at it for too long”. Put yourself out there, get involved, you never know you might be in for the experience of a lifetime.