Courage to Face Adversity

Going on an adventure can sometimes test your courage to face adversity. Sometimes you have a choice, sometimes you don’t. Depending on your perspective, the level of difficulty or unpleasantness of the situation faced could be different.

Signing up for an adventure usually means you’re up for some element of risk. But of course that provides an opportunity to discover what you’re capable of.

Mountaineering is all about being comfortable in uncomfortable places.

Sir Edmund Hillary

Facing Adversity

There are many types of adversity that you can anticipate and prepare yourself for. This might involve practical solutions like taking the right gear, physical solutions such as getting your body in shape, or solutions to prepare yourself mentally. Knowing you’ve prepared well can help give you courage to face adversity, rather than relying on blind optimism.

On the other hand you may end up in situations which you didn’t foresee. These really test your courage and ability to manage the challenge you’re faced with. Take for example Pam, one of our fellow Everest Base Camp trekkers, who on a subsequent trip to Nepal found herself caught up in the 2015 earthquake – you can read about it in her book How the Hell Did I Get Here.

Either way, you’re faced with decisions when you face adversity – what do you do? Do you persevere or do you give up? Maybe there’s no option but to go on.

Having Courage

In our trekking adventures, we’ve faced different forms of adversity. We’ve learnt something from all of them and the experiences made us stronger for the next expedition. Isn’t that what they call ‘Type 2 fun’? It might not be fun at the time but it’s fun to look back on afterwards. Some people like a level of hardship or difficulty because it enhances the whole adventure experience.

While Everest Base Camp was our first trek, it wasn’t until after our expedition to climb Mera Peak that we were inspired to write a post on 12 Tips to Build Mental Toughness For Your Next Trek. On that expedition we found that all the little things built up to become a big problem. The result was that we didn’t achieve our summit. This quickly turned to disappointment and frustration with ourselves that we’d not persevered and pushed through. However the whole experience taught us so much and has helped us to this day. For example, we now ensure we’re in the right headspace before a trek. On the most recent 10 Peaks Challenge we courageously headed out in strong winds and snowy conditions. We persevered on what turned out to be an epic 11 hour day.

There are definitely benefits in mustering the courage to face adversity, providing of course that you live to tell the tale! You always learn something and there’s the satisfaction of having achieved your objective.

What do you think?

• What challenges in life have taught you the most?
• Do you have the courage to take on your next adventure?

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