Stand Still

I’ll never forget how still I became when I was in the middle of a jungle in Mexico and realized I was lost. I could see the rising panic in my boyfriends eyes which brought out of me a serious sense of calm and clarity.A real survival instinct came to me and I was able to think clearly enough to remember the only adventure book I had ever read, “Walkabout” at school when I was 9. In that book they talked about if you are ever lost to find running water and so I did. It took us several hours and we followed a stream which disappeared into a waterfall at one point but ultimately we found ourselves wading through a river and clambering out on a dirt track. I got us out of a tropical 750 mile wide jungle through the happy stroke of luck of a book I had read half my life ago.

Anyone who knows me will know that I am not naturally an outdoorsy type of person, preferring, in general, the jungles of Paris to the jungles of Central America. So perhaps nobody was more surprised than me that I had an Indiana Jones moment and rescued myself and my boyfriend.

This past week I volunteered at a Children’s Hospital to perform plays for very sick children. I am generally someone who cries very easily and I was very anxious about how I may react when I was face to face with seriously ill young children. Obviously not wanting to have a breakdown in the ward. I imagined that I may not manage to keep it together, but I did. I played peek a boo with a boy of about 3 and laughed with a girl who never spoke but who would spontaneously burst out into peels of laughter, her large brown eyes turned towards me.

Life can challenge you and fling you into situations which previously you may have never have imagined your survival to be possible but each time these moments happen they can be opportunities to surprise your own self. Even when I came face to face with 7 rats at my doorway a few years ago. Admittedly it took several minutes to become cognizant that I was still breathing despite being face to face with my Worst Fear Ever. But when I realized I was staring at the rats and still breathing it was incredible.

Anyway to bring this back to this months theme of stand, I think life can sometimes simply be about being able to simply stand, get out of your own head and have faith that whatever comes your way you will be OK. You’ll be more than OK you’ll soar way above it and on the way surpass your own limitations.

IMG_4591

Tags: , ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *