After a rough week where my car broke down at the absolute worst time (yeah, I know there isn’t a GOOD time but trust me this was exceptionally bad). I wasn’t stoked for a weekend of taking a group of students caving.
Fortunately taking a group of students caving is a great way to distract yourself. It’s tough to get wrapped up in your own problems when you’re trying to keep track of hundreds of dollars of university gear, 7 students, 2 teaching assistants, and 1 co-teacher who forgot their shoes at camp. Really.
This weekend I had a student who admitted he didn’t really like caving, like, he wouldn’t do it again voluntarily and felt like the class was more like a hazing ritual than a Physical Education course. (Ok, but what PE classes have you been taking that DIDN’T feel like a hazing ritual?)
He said what he did like about caving though was that you couldn’t think or do anything BUT caving. You know, there’s no cell service in a cave, no distractions, nothing in front of you or behind you but navigating the dark. And that was just what I needed, to be reminded to just be here, with the good, the bad, and whatever the middle ground has to offer.
