Isabella making the most of her opportunities

These holidays, I travelled up the Marlborough Sounds to Anakiwa to do a 3 week course, also known as Outward Bound. I was placed in a watch with 13 other strangers who I would soon learn to call my family. Over the course of 21 days I was challenged physically, socially, mentally and emotionally. I learnt my thresholds, my values and just how far I could truly push myself. I learnt that what sets us apart as individuals can be the very thing that ties us together.

Each morning at Outward Bound was a different experience. The premise of the course is to live in the moment, so we don't get told what we are doing for the day, until we are doing it. This was a scary concept at first, not knowing what was going to happen and accepting the possibility that we may not be able to mentally prepare for it was tough. But as the time went on, we reached peace with it and for me this was such a valuable lesson to learn. A standard Anakiwa Morning was an early morning wake up, warmup, 3km time trial run followed by an ocean dip. We then had breakfast and prepped for the day ahead of us. Our other types of morning were scheme mornings, this could be anything from getting up at 5am to start tramping, or sleeping in until 8am as a reward for the previous day's hard work.

On this course I spent 30 consecutive hours on a boat, tramped from 7 in the morning until 10 at night, saw the clarity of the milky way and five shooting stars. I Kayaked down rapids, jumped off a cliff, walked across a log 30 metres above ground with my eyes closed (attached to a rope). I have bush bashed, chased away possums, ran a half marathon, almost flipped a sailboat, had my socks stolen by wekas, seen a cave of glow-worms, placed my trust in a complete stranger and went five days without a shower. I have grown unbreakable connections with 13 other people who were once strangers. I have cried, laughed, snapped, apologised and learnt so much about who I am as a person.

I've learnt to appreciate the little things, couches, a warm bed, my family and friends, sleeping in and washing machines. But I also learnt to appreciate things in less ideal circumstances, like the clear skies scattered with stars, the sunrises coming over the mountains reflected off the flat sea, a hot shower after a cold day and sleep, even if it is in the bush with no shelter.

I would like to leave with a classic quote that we constantly referred back to over any challenging part of the course “There is more in you.” or our watch's rendition of this: “There is more more”. Anytime you think you have reached your maximum potential take a second and think again, more often than not you will find that little but extra that makes all the difference.

I could not recommend Outward Bound any more, it is in no way easy, but growth isn't established within our comfort zones. There are so many scholarship opportunities available and Roncalli does such a good job at putting these in the notices, so keep an eye out and apply, what's the worst that can happen?