Ropes Course

A smile came over her face last night and I knew exactly what was on her mind. I was elated for her. We were out paddling a river and she had just executed a deft move in a whitewater kayak. A lot of people do that, but there are some extenuating circumstances here.

She just started paddling a year ago. And, she’s had a whole lot of birthdays (about as many as me). But, the key factor is that she’s had a lot of challenges in her life. Few things buoy the spirit like accomplishing something you doubted yourself about.

A couple decades ago, I was on the board of a mental health hospital. The staff proposed building a ropes course, which met with a lot of resistance. What’s accomplished by having people walk from treetop to treetop across a telephone pole, aside from increasing liability exposure? I’ll footnote here that that wasn’t the only element of the course and that participants were on belaying lines, in the event of a slip.

I vehemently supported it. Prior to that, I had been involved in instructing for an outdoors club. I noticed we got a lot of “damaged” people coming through, primarily women coming out of one-sided, toxic relationships. They had been made to feel totally dependent and had little self-esteem. Becoming accomplished paddlers, backpackers, etc. usually turned around their lives.

We built the ropes course and had very good results. Someone would look at the elements and declare that they weren’t capable. Then, they were helped to do it. The point was made. You didn’t think you had it in you, but you proved you did. That applies to all your other challenges. You have more capability and value than you perceive. You proved you’re not a failure.

So, when this paddler smiled last night, I knew what she was thinking. She had gone from zero to pulling whitewater moves in a year, and at an advanced age, at that. That erases a lot of bad tapes. And, will create many more smiles for her.