Choosing Your Challenge

Out on the challenge course, we're very adamant about the philosophy of "Challenge by Choice" (trademark by Project Adventure).  There are two main components to this philosophy, the first (and most apparent) of which is that each person in the group, each participant in the program, each climber on the course, have the opportunity to set their own boundaries.  Some people don't mind being blindfolded.  Others do.  Some people choose not to climb.  Some people choose not to hop around on one foot while quacking like a duck....you get the idea.  The point is, once we stop imposing a REQUIREMENT to participate to the extent of everyone else in the group, we can begin to lift off the unconscious pressure associated with forced participation.  We can begin to instill a sense of autonomy, giving people the ability to choose to challenge themselves, to look inside themselves to mindfully and voluntarily recognize their limits and take that one extra step.  There is a fine line between encouragement and peer pressure, but being aware of yourself and empathetic to those choosing to challenge themselves can help create a more emotionally, mentally, and even physically safer environment.  And, after all, a book read for fun is infinitely more interesting than an assigned text.

The second piece of the philosophy, going hand in hand with the former, is that each person has their own personal limits and abilities.  What may be less challenging for one person may be more challenging for another (I try to avoid labeling things as "easy" or "hard" - after all, do you want to be the person that struggled with the "easy" task?).  A problem that may take one person less than minute to arrive at a solution may take another more than 20.  The thing to remember, though, is that those roles don't always go to the same people.

Sometimes, outside of the course (away from the logical and known application), I suppose it's easy to forget the second piece.  And that's something I need to work on.  Because what we do on the challenge course is moot unless we can transfer it to our everyday lives!