“This isn’t the blog I thought I was going to write

The first draft was about challenge and how it sits at the heart of everything we do in outdoor education

How challenge is healthy and necessary – – not just for young people, but for all of us – -how it stretches intellectually and physically, how it slows down time ( find the neuroscientist ) how it creates experiences which, in turn, help judgement and decision making both for the near and the far future

For a very long time, my literary heroes were the people who travelled to the polar extremes of the planet, to the heart of Africa and to the highest mountains. The men who sailed the Cape Horners and who made voyages of discovery to every corner of this amazing world – – – – -people who raised the bar for what can be done and created new knowledge leading to new ideas and new understandings

From Jason and the Argonauts and the warriors of Genghis Khan ( sp) and from the gladiators of the Roman empire to the peoples of Pashtun, I used to wonder, and still do, how I would fare in those times and places

But here I am, in the wee small hours, on what we call waking duty, pre-occupied not by the heroics of real or imaginary characters of past times but asking myself what the heroes of the future will be like – – – -what will define them – – – – what will be the stand out behaviours that others will admire and wish they could copy.

The heroes of the future are mostly children right now I suppose.

But they will become musicians and scientists, doctors and carers and mechanics and engineers and business people and politicians

So, as I sit through the night with one such child, as I do my bit, as I do my best. I am reinforced with determination that the challenges we pose young people today and the solutions we guide them towards in terms of behaviours and values should help equip them to be ambitious, outward facing and generous with their intellect and their energy. “

Peter Wilson

Chief Executive Officer

 

Here is a link to the article on slowing down time in Sports:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/for-athletes-time-really-does-slow-down-29426468/