Outward Bound Taught Me To Look Inward

During the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school I decided to take a three week Outward Bound trip. My mom encouraged it and it was something that I found really exciting. My trip, specifically, was a hiking and rock climbing excursion in North Carolina. We spent a bit less than two weeks hiking through the mountains, a few days rock climbing, and one day performing our “Solo”.

The solo is a 24 hour period of time when you are completely isolated and left to your own devices. For this particular trip we were given a tarp to build a tent, a designated area, one bag of trail mix, and a toiletry bag. The rest was what we had packed for the trip: our clothes, tooth brush, insect repellent, water bottles. And one whistle, just in case of emergency. That’s it.

Outward Bound is designed to get you out of your comfort zone. Put you in a strange environment, with unfamiliar people, and expect you to become a team and to grow together. Then at the very end they separate you and leave you on your own.

Outward Bound makes you reach out, and get out of your comfort zone, then it makes you look inward. And it works.

During my solo I wrote myself a letter. I described my experience on the trip and what I had learned. I went through each individual in my group (six guys, six girls, all the same age group) and wrote my thoughts about them. I wrote down notes for myself six months from then, what I had planned to do, where I wanted myself to be.

And then I got bored.

So I sat. I put my t-shirt on the ground and sat on it cross-legged. I closed my eyes and just sat there. It was completely silent. We were miles from any form of civilization so there was no sound pollution. There was just the occasional bird call or rustle in the leaves.

I don’t know how long I sat there but I know my thoughts wandered to anything and everything. I was almost in a trance. I didn’t move. At one point I heard a sound and opened my eyes. A fawn had approached my “camp”. It was incredible. It was obviously curious about what I was. It walked up to me. I didn’t move for fear of incurring the wrath of it’s mother that could have been somewhere nearby (it was). I simply sat and stared, barely breathing. The little deer cautiously picked around my area, sniffing and exploring. Eventually it walked off. But I will never forget it.

This was before the social media boom, and cell phones were just becoming smarter. I had a Kodak camera in my bag but had used up all of the pictures. Technology was nonexistent on this trip. It was a memory I wasn’t able to share in real time, but one that I happily share now.

Outward Bound took me to a place inside myself. I explored who I was. I had a baby deer walk next to me. As much as I learned about reaching out to others and building relationships, it taught me more about who I was and what I can be (and do).

I recommend a trip like this for anyone who can go on one. It will change the way you look at things. It will give you a chance to unplug and discover who you are outside of tech-filled world we live in now. You can never know too much about yourself, as there is always something new to uncover. Put yourself in a situation where you can do some digging. I promise you will love what you find.