On 22 & 23 Dec, I joined REDbird leadership development camp, which is the first camp I have ever attended in my life. It was a relax after a busy and stressful semester. The two-day camping was not a long time but I did learn a lot, for example, I developed my wild camping skills as well as stepped out of my comfort zone. Besides, I made friends with people in my group and enjoyed our teamwork.
1. Night walk
The most unforgettable experience during the camping was a night walk. This activity was started after dinner. However, we had dinner for a long time (we were still hungry after we ate everything we cooked, so we cooked one more pot of rice :D). As a result, we were the last group to go for a night walk. The rule for the night walk was that a group of people hiked together but no talking or torch was allowed during the walk. What we should do was to follow the red lights and meet the trainer at the ending point. It was dark and quiet in the forest with cold wind blowing from time to time. I was very scared and nervous when we were at the starting point because it seemed as a scenario in horror movie. I was afraid of falling down because of the darkness and being attacked by wild animals. However, I was not that scared during the walk because of accompany of my group mates. In addition, I could see the road clearly under the moonlight. What’s more, I was really focused on the walk, trying to climb up the rocks carefully.
However, after a long time, I suddenly noticed that the red lights disappeared! But the leader of my subgroup was still heading forward. I was not sure whether he noticed the disappearance of the red lights. I just followed the leader and trying to believe that we were on the right way. Soon, we met the other group in Eagle 2. We stopped and thought it was the end of the walk. We took photos together and began to talk. However, the trainer appeared and she was very angry that we did not reach the end point. She had waited us for a long time and the end point was only a short distance from where we were taking photos.
2. Step out of comfort zone
This activity aimed at helping us to get out of our comfort zone. It was originally designed that everybody went for the night walk alone. We may get scared when we walk alone. However, we should try to challenge ourselves and do something that we have never tried before. Staying in our comfort zone makes us comfortable but we will never learn new things and improve ourselves by that. Stepping out of my comfort zone is also what I have been always trying to do. Of course, it makes me feel frightened and nervous every time, but if I do not try it, I will never develop myself. What I should do is to be confident and try my best to explore my potential.
3. Be determined of my choice
What I also learnt from this night walk was that there are lots of choices in our life just like we faced choices during the walk. When we are in a dilemma, we should make a choice and believe our choice and walk forward without hesitating. It was really a pity that we gave up just before we would reach the end point. What matters was not we achieved this task or not, it was that we were not determined about our choice enough. All roads lead to Rome, we should have insisted on our choice and walked forward bravely. It is same in my life that sometimes I make a decision and am not sure about it. It is tempting to give up during midway. I always hope that life is just like a game, so that we can save it and restart if we want. However, this is not possible and I can not change the situation. What I can only do is to change myself and fight against all the obstacles in my way and be determined to head forward.
Life is full of risks, I will always challenge myself and never give up!