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9. You still have complete ability to lead blind and paralyzed people to safety even when you don’t have 2 arms regardless of how many hills or stumbling blocks are barracading the way.
We were given this wonderful opportunity of learning how empowered we could be as women if we could all figure out how to work together. Basically this was something that showed us that while we were going to be pushed to our limits, if we could figure out how to pull together and rely on one another then we would survive with the best of them.
We were presented with a scenario. Some of us are blind. Some are paralyzed. Some are contagious. Some have lost a limb, some two limbs. Turns out we were in a horrible plane crash and landed on this island and our job was to get everyone that was on the plane to safety. Rules: if you don’t have it, you can’t use it. If you’re contagious and you touch someone they become paralyzed. There’s roughly a mile of distance between starting and ending, most of which is either through the woods or up a hill, and you get 15 minutes. Trust me, in the amazing sweltering humidity that is GA summer in all it’s glory, you will learn that it is okay to pour sweat and still feel valid. Let’s just say our squad [R SQUAD!!!] figured out a plan really quick and was able to get all of our teammates rescued with time to spare!
Special story time: my special task as a no-armed member was to lead the “blind” through the woods, down the road and up the path to our rescue point. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed the choochoo train more than I did with that exercise. It was only topped off by my next task. One of the contagious people was worn out because they had already literally carried one person from beginning to end, so I decided I would help out. This poor girl was plopped on my back. Could I touch her? Nope, no arms. Could I adjust her? Nope, no arms. Could I walk at 90 degrees bent over to get her down the road and up the path? Yes, I had legs! It was so funny; since she was paralyzed she couldn’t do anything at all. She didn’t budge. I kept stoping every 20 steps or so and telling her, “Okay I have to pop you again.” What does “pop” mean? I would count to three and pop my butt as hard as I could hoping to land her further up my back so that she could just work her way back down again.
It seriously was one of the hardest things we had to do the entire week as far as finding limits and being pushed, but we each figured out how to exceed them and come together. Because of it we were able to see both how strong we are as individuals and how unstoppable we can be together.
