During the April break I had one issue in terms of my activity goal. I didn’t have access to a gym. A catastrophe some might think but for me it was going back to how I started exercising, going into nature for long hikes and activities in the fresh air. I adapted my cardio warm up to be longer and more intense so I could still keep my goal of exercising weekly.
My family and I hiked up to little Adam’s peak, taking breaks in between to enjoy the views. Once we got to the top my brother spotted how some other hill tops rolled along right next to us and wanted to head there. So I took him there along with my dad. This however proved to be a challenge. I had to gauge how much space I had to leave between people to avoid any tripping. The terrain was steep and there were rocks ready to fall down to the bottom of the mountain with the slightest movement of the dust underneath. There were many times were I considered to stop hiking. Perhaps it was my stubbornness to never give up on something when the end is in reach, my excellent IB learner profile or my brother starting some competition between me and him that pushed me to keep going. No matter the reason I got there in the end. It took a lot of self-awareness as I needed to fully aware of where I was placing my feet, keeping my balance and ensuring I don’t get in the way of others. I had to do all of this not only for my safety and those of others, but also the nature and wildlife. One wrong move and I could trigger a landslide that could leave catastrophic damage to the environment.
The view however was worth it. I spotted a peace symbol carved into a rock and despite me hating graffiti in nature, this one being by itself deep in the rock was beautiful to me. It such a simple symbol but it captured perfectly what I felt in the moment. Peace. The fresh air filling my lungs, the wind cooling down my sweaty body, my brother trying to wave at my mom on the other mountain top all came together in a moment of rest. My dad called my mom and we had a sort of real life facetime talking to her over the phone whilst looking over at her.
On the way back down the mountain we did a zipline, as it was my brothers birthday. It was such a vast contrast to what we just did as it was over within 3 minutes. We went at a speed of 80 km/h and enjoyed every moment of it. My mom had put me in charge of the GoPro which gave us a memorable video to look back on of this day.
In the evening to wind down I did some arm exercises using my luggage as weights to keep them involved too.
Featured Image Credit: Flying Ravana Photographer