I completed an Outward Bound "Classic Challenge" course that challenged me on four levels:

• physical
• emotional
• psychological
• intellectual.

Some days were like pre-meditated suffering. But there were moments of incredible exhiliration and personal victory. At the end of the course I had an awareness of my inner strength.

The course entailed a 22 day expedition in the Australian bush. We were organised into groups of twelve people plus an instructor. We learnt to live with each other, support each other and strive towards a common goal.

We carried 20kgs in our backpacks, navigated through the bush, climbed mountains, canoed, cascaded, crawled through caves, rock climbed, abseiled and slept under the stars. For 17 of these days we did not bathe and we had to dig our own toilet.

My favourite moments were the caving and learning to ride a bicycle.

Testing my new beliefs about myself

I believe that Outward Bound was of great benefit to me because I had put this new belief system in place BEFORE I started the course.

If I went into them with the OLD belief system I probably would feel high for a couple of hours (or a couple of days) and then everything would go back to normal. My old habits would resurface.

I did Outward Bound about four months after I started to change my belief system. When I finished I was satisfied that my new belief system was working for me.

I want to stress that Outward Bound is not a 'factory' where a shy person enters at one end and a confident person comes out at the other end. Life change is not that easy.   And be very wary of anyone who promises such life change in the space of a weekend.

Be prepared to develop yourself over a long period of time. And have the courage to challenge what you have been believing all your life. When you are willing to take this risk, I am sure you will find that life is better than anything you thought it could be.

If you are interested you can find out more about Outward Bound by visiting their web site.

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This page was last updated Wednesday, 02 January 2002