You can see me in the middle completely baked by the sun.A couple friends and I biked to Stonewall.
I have chosen to use pictures as the primary evidence to tell my story. The picture below contains the "Welcome to Stonewall" sign (otherwise no one would believe us).
You can see me in the middle completely baked by the sun.
Above is another picture of Gordon, and most importantly, a few of our bikes at the back. Indisputable proof we actually biked there.
I think this event highlighted and developed a specific part of who I am today. The part of me who is eager to try new things and challenge myself. I am more inclined to try new things and have more courage to step out of my boundaries. In the future, when I encounter anything I find uncomfortable, I know to simply go for it, as that is how I conquer fears.
Our group simply picked a date and when the time came, we just went for it. We enjoyed what we could, and ignored what we couldn't.
I'd say the one thing which changed the most in my life was my perception of what is and what isn't feasible. I was confident that we would all turn back once we got a few kilometres in. After all, this was a solid order of magnitude more difficult compared to previous bike trips we'd been on.
By telling myself "just one more kilometre" repeatedly, we managed to complete the journey to Stonewall. By making small but significant progress throughout.
Slow and steady does indeed win the race.
I'm going to be honest: this all started out as a joke. Someone in our group jokingly brought up the idea of biking to Stonewall as something to do (since exams/final assessments had just been completed, and the summer had began). I basically replied "sure, why not?" and we began planning (in hindsight, not enough planning happened, but whatever).
The trip to Stonewall alone took us around 7 hours due to the wind. Which, I guess, leads me to the consequences. My parents were definitely not happy about our lack of planning and foresight. I don't think they would ever approve of something like this again in the future.
Also, by the time we reached Stonewall, I was starving. In Winnipeg, we flipped a coin to decide whether we would buy lunch there or at Stonewall. I think you know what happened after that. Probably the most work I've ever done for some Subway.
I believe that our trip was beneficial in the end. We got tons of physical activity in a single day, our relationships strengthened, and we had a great time in general. Also, we received quite a large dose of vitamin D.
Many people (including my parents) seem to believe that it was mostly a dangerous waste of time. They believe that it was all unnecessary. Nothing good came out of it, according to them. I believe their perspective was like that because they had never done anything similar before.
I think the most significant lesson I learned was to never decide lunch on a coin flip.
In all seriousness, it taught me that anything is possible - no matter how absurd it may sound - if you just commit to it. Adventure is found anywhere, as long as you are dedicated to searching for it. All you need to do is get started, and remind yourself that each step is significant.
If I were to do something similar again, I would definitely make sure to plan better. Account for the wind, bring plenty of snacks, remember sunscreen exists, et cetera.