Day 2 of Ninja Camp by Chosen
Sometimes the toughest part of leveling up is noticing that you have. I find it easy to get swept away by focusing on where I want to be going and to forgetting to stop and take stock of the distance I’ve already travelled.
Before I came to Bali, I visited my friend Dylan in the U.S. and we did a 4 State road trip where he set out to give me a growth experience. He set up progressively more challenging experiences to train the fear of heights out of me.
We sat atop the Cedar Mesa and he coached me to allow my body to realize that I was safe atop this giant wall of rock. To allow myself to calm down and be okay in situations that had previously terrified me.
By the end of the week he had taught be how to abseil and had prepared me for my longest climb ever, a tower of rock called ‘Weaver’s Needle’ in Arizona.
Flash forward to today, my second day at Ninja camp. We woke up at 5:30 to be on the road for 6 with a day of canyoning on the agenda.
On the way there I once again meditated on the idea of living a life that I chose and today I decided to choose my experience of myself. I openly set the intention of experiencing myself as someone capable of doing all of the challenges placed in front of me, with minimal hesitation and from a place of joy.
I’ve been focussing a lot lately on the question of what winning is inside of a system where we’re all playing our own games. One thing I’ve been starting to believe is that the more aware I am of what a win is, the more satisfaction I make available to myself because I just might hit the target. I’ve lived through more than enough situations where wonderful things have happened to me and I’ve barely noticed because I hadn’t clarified in my mind that it was something that I’d wanted.
So, being in a place where I’m surrounded by people who live intentionally, I decided to set that intention.
I met it and more. I had a blast today. I not only was the only participant to do EVERY SINGLE obstacle but I also was almost always the first one to go. We leapt, we climbed, we abseiled, we laughed. It was awesome.
There were moments where I had no idea what I was volunteering to go first for but I did it any way and was so grateful that I did. One part specifically was an abseil into a zip line but I didn’t know that... a quarter of the way down the wall I was instructed to let go... I saw that I was clipped in and trusted. It was ridiculously fun. There was one jump that I was the only participant to do that I might regret tomorrow as I left it joking that it felt like I’d been spanked by the hulk. It was a 23 meter drop where I had to jump sideways along the side of the rock face at some bushes that were sticking out if I wanted to hit the deep area. I hit the right spot but I hit it hard. My rear hurts... I think I bruised my ass.
It was worth it though.
The experience before Bali, clearly prepared me for this one and it was clear to me that I’ve come a long way in the last few months. I think it’s important to give myself those experiences. Those opportunities to notice that the work is paying off. Because of that clear confirmation of up-leveling, I’m eager for more. The hours that we spent in that canyon today were a blast and gave me an opportunity to build evidence that what I’ve been doing to grow myself as a man have paid off. It wasn’t just the lack of hesitation at the face of things that used to scare me... it’s the joy I felt through the day doing it. The presence of mind. The support I was able to give to the rest of the team, many of whom were still in a scared state.
I’m present that I would have missed so much today had I not given myself this intention . I invite you all to spend this day getting present to your growth, to your expanded self. I want to hear all about it! Also, if you feel like you haven’t grown lately, this could show you that you have made progress or it might show you where you want to work.
Day 3 will involve trampolines... a new gear to challenge!
