Resilience – Solution Creators who demonstrate resilience and flexibility (S11)
Imagine that you just hiked up a tough and grueling mountain climb through the night and just as the sun rises, you reach the summit. As you reach for your water, you realize just how hard of a climb you pushed through as the sunbeams glint off the condensation of your bottle. The satisfaction is pure, raw, more so than any other method of pleasure. The satisfaction of the accomplishment of a hard task that demanded your grit. This feeling is unexplainable unless one actually experiences it. Be it a marathon, a college paper or even a skydive. Now why are these experiences such a source of joy? The answer to this is the product of the grit, resilience and flexibility that it takes to achieve a goal, which equals satisfaction. For me, an example of one such satisfying accomplishment that I experienced was via my outdoor hike at Pippudake. Pippudake is a mountain located in a cluster of mountains in the daisetsuzan area and has 2197 meters of elevation. As part of our outdoor curicculum, we carefully planned and hiked the mountain in August. This hike was my first for the outdoor program, and it fundamentally challenged me in many ways. I was with a group of people I did not really know, and I hadnt hiked up a mountain in months. However, once I started hiking, I commited to the hike and pushed through as we finished the hike together as a group. In this hike I was able to realize some points of the huskies that I was able to develop. Resilience is a tenet that is key to any type of physical activity. Without it, your muscles do not grow, you dont get any better, and you wont get anywhere. It is through pain that we can grow, and out of pain that we experience accomplishment. The hike took a little more than 6 hours. On the hike during the first 2 hours, at the back of my mind, there was the option to say that I couldnt go on anymore and quit, or take breaks every few steps of the way, which I did feel like I wanted to do. However, through krystoffs rave music and his relentless shirtless excursion trailblazing ahead of me, I was motivated to push through the challenges of aching feet, low energy and temptations to quit. I resiliently pushed back against each challenge that came at me. My first artifact attached is a video of krystoff and I pushing through, going offtrail. In this video, we are offtrail, and although grueling to the feet, I was able to experience something that no one who takes the normal trail does. Through this I was able to feel a feeling of accomplishment, looking back. On the hike we were faced with harsh winds and the threat of rain. We were forced to make a decision between pushing through and summiting pippudake, or turning to the right and heading down. Due to having finished 90% of the hike to pippu, we came to the decision that we had done our best, and we although wanted to summit Pippu, turned right and made our way through the beautiful mountains on our way back. This was a scenario in which we had to be flexible. Throughout life we are faced with many decisions such as these, in which we can continue on a hard path or make a smarter decision that comes with the sacrifice of a previous goal. In these cases it is important to be flexible and make the smarter decision. This decision has stuck with me, as I realized its okay and sometimes important to not stick to an initial plan. New events and information can result in our needing to shift from our previous goal in turn for a new one. THroughout life, I belive I will come to face more decisions such as these. By turning right in this case, we were able to take some amazing beautiful photos of the mountains of daisetsuzan. What made it even more miraculous is the fact that as soon as we finished the hike and arrived at the grand cabin, droplets of rain started fallling. It was at this time that I realized that that decision that we made, made our trip end on a good note, and therefore I was able to feel that sense of accomplishment and pride that I mentioned earlier. In reflection of my trip, I was able to learn the importance of flexibility and the joys that can come as a result of a smart on-the-fly decision. I was also able to experience the unexplainable joy of accomplishing a grueling hike. I look back at these memories and the memories brings back more memories that I am freaking proud of. I will never forget this hike, and it has a place in my heart as I was able to connect with my outdoor class and also I gained a further appreciation for the nature of hokkaido. I love that I have the opportunity to make many more choices in life that will require more resilience. I wonder how flexible I can be, and how far it might get me. I am excited for what the future brings.
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Tadashi ShichidaSenior @ Hokkaido International School Archives
June 2020
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