“It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.”
― Isaac Asimov
Eighteen months in quarantine, or at least in some iteration of it, has been a challenge that lay within a challenge. There are complexity and layers within-- stacked and interlocked. Those layers double-fold the actual challenge and test even the strongest. The most resilient. The most determined.
I have seen this manifest in technicolor with my two boys. The test. The challenge rearing up like a magnificent wave and threatening to overwhelm. But in their own unique ways, both my boys face off, tapping into the complement of strengths and tools they have nurtured and evolved in their youthful development. Indeed, they have stumbled at times—like us all. This is to be expected. Scrapes and bruised come with life. The boys gained ground at times with a similar intensity. But regardless of outcome, they faced what was lay before. Often head-on. Sometimes unknowing. At times with determination and grit. Occasionally tempered with exhaustion and anxiety. And at least once, just once, engulfed in frustration.
This summer, we finally got home. It was primarily to get our vaccinations (we did!) but also with direct intent to recapture lost time with family and to taste freedom again. So we signed both boys up for adventure camps (with Adventurelore LLC) in New England. Eighteen months of confinement "released" via biking, hiking, camping, swimming--and that forgotten art of playing. This camp just allowed them both to be kids again, lost in nature. Lost in a new found freedom.
Owen after his 160 mile bike ride through Maine.
Was occurred was transformational.
Both boys went in hungry and eager. Owen, our oldest, went to a camp where he rode 160 miles in 4-5 days. Quinn spent time at a lake, camping, playing--and of course jumping off a train trestle. He says at least 5 times.
Quinn after his camp. He just couldn't stop talking.
The boys we left at camp and the boys who returned were different beings. They ascended to a higher state. The return marked a sense of inner calm—an aura of happiness and contentment. There was a residual of a peace long-awaited.
Most significantly, however, we noticed a shift in their mindset. There was a sense of accomplishment that impacted how the boys interacted with us and others. A sense of confidence and stature that COVID and the associated quarantine previously obscured.
As parents do, we expressed our excitement at the accomplishment. We lauded their experience. We gave encouragement of an intrinsic pride for their endeavors. In this pride (which you could see shining through), we challenged them to harness it for the next the next chapter, the next leg of our journey together. Lacing it with optimism.
It's in those moments, whether it's your child or while teaching the children of others, where you see accomplishment rise up and through pride develop and evolve, you gain a sense that it's all going to be ok. That it really is. That we are indeed steady in our journey forward. This awareness doesn't come through an understanding of denial but rather through a realization of "self"—one of the many "selves" in our individual development.
I love seeing that "self" develop within my boys. I have always found peace in watching it evolve from within my students and appreciated it most when the effort and impetus were internal. They did it all by themselves. They navigated their own individual evolution. They triumphed!
And I didn't have to do a thing save watch and smile.
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