Member-only story
Many years ago, in fact it seems like a lifetime ago, I worked as an experiential learning instructor…what's one of those I hear nobody ask? In its most basic sense, I took young people who were having difficulties up rock faces(climbing), down rivers(canoeing), over mountains(walking or biking) and under ground(caving). I worked for a specialist team for a local authority (this was back in the days when there was money for anything beyond the bare minimum). The young people I worked with were a whole range; those in foster care, those from abusive families, neglected, unloved, abandoned. There were a few aims of the work, respite, physical wellbeing, fun(!)……but one I vividly remember from the monitoring was “to build resilience”.
So I would take young people to the outdoors, and into exciting and challenging situations. Hundreds of feet up a crag, sometimes wet and tired on a hillside, somewhere in the darkest of caves, building resilience. I was good at my job, I connected with the young people, everything was always safe, but I always pushed past their comfort zone. I was helping them build resilience. But looking back, I don’t think I fully understood resilience at all.
Many years later, I took up running. I enjoyed it, so I ran further. Half marathons turned to marathons, which turned to ultra marathons. I wanted to be out of my comfort zone, I wanted to find my limits. And I did. And it was then that I started to think more about what resilience actually means. There are so many factors that go into finishing an ultra marathon beyond…
