Challenge: The New Miracle Drug

What is challenge to you? I find that I ask this question to myself daily. What is challenge to me and have I challenged myself lately? I think that one of the most important things we can keep present in our lives is a sense of challenge. For me, challenge is about pushing out of my comfort zone both physically and mentally. It can be as simple as a hard workout (if you don’t crossfit, you should!) or putting yourself in a new social setting and forcing yourself to meet new people. On the other end of that, it could be as big as committing to train for an Ironman or quitting your job in search for something better. Challenge comes in all forms and it’s up to us to seek it!

ll my life, I have defined challenge as pushing myself on harder and harder rivers. I found that every time I went and paddled a hard rapid, I would arrive at the bottom filled with life, perspective and a sense of growth that I was struggling to find in my daily life. Over time, I found myself doing fewer and fewer class VI rapids and focusing on new challenges (for the sake of living a long life). These came mostly in the form of my work at First Descents. If you want to know challenge, try starting up a non-profit! It’s filled with challenges. Surprisingly, my biggest challenges to date have come from my work as leader of the organization I founded 11 years ago. I’ve had to challenge myself to grow as a person, learn new skills and put myself in situations that I dread. I attribute much of “who” I am as a person today to the challenges I’ve faced to get here.

That same sense of challenge is one of the cornerstones at First Descents. We have found that a legitimate outdoor challenge can restore much of the psychosocial damage caused by a diagnosis of cancer as a young adult (18-39). We offer a free week of rock climbing or kayaking to challenge young adults to reclaim their life from their cancer, and in doing so, restore self-confidence, identity, control and community. Again, this only happens when they really challenge themselves. Nothing compares to the feeling at the bottom of your first class 3 rapid or the top of a multi-pitch ascent! It is then, in that moment, that they begin a life beyond cancer.

Whenever I’m afraid to face a challenge, I think of their courage and what it must take to be facing cancer at home and choose to head to a foreign place with new people to try a new sport that scares the hell out of you! I have no excuses.

If you’re looking for a challenge today, I have two for you to start with. 1. If you know a young adult with cancer, I challenge you to have an honest conversation with them about their cancer. Ask candid questions as a friend, be curious and leave the stigmas at the door. If they’re open to it, encourage them to check out a First Descents program. They’re free! 2. Sign up for TEAM FD and pick a physical challenge that you’ll hold yourself to and a fundraising challenge to match it. It’s an inspiring thing to push yourself so that others can do the same. If you need inspiration here’s a quote from a camper who not only challenged herself by rock climbing at FD’s programs but took it to the next level and signed up to compete for TEAM FD and, in doing so, pay it forward to another young adult with cancer:

"My name is Cheesesteak [everyone at FD gets a nickname], and First Descents saved my life. I was diagnosed with Stage IIIA ovarian cancer in December, 2007.  In August, 2009, I went rock-climbing in Jackson, Wyoming with First Descents.  When I arrived at camp, my life as a survivor was still very much defined by fear, sadness and anger.  My body had been debilitated and weakened from my treatments.  I was unsure how to go on living. Through First Descents, I was given the opportunity to connect with other young adults who truly understood my struggles.  And through First Descents, I realized that it was possible to live fully - and joyfully - after cancer. I truly cannot imagine my life as a survivor without First Descents.  It means the world to me. Through Team FD, my hope is to raise enough money to give another young adult this same second chance at life."

Thanks for reading!