In our June blog post we are delighted to share with you the journey of Foundation Year of one of our students, and how it all landed with him…
Bouncing around in the back of the pick-up truck through the Wadi Rum was so much fun. The best freedom that I had felt for a long, long time. Tearing through the sand dunes- or rather sailing through the air, launched in the void over them – was simply the best. Camels racing alongside us. And being in the company of others, themselves enjoying the ride, and living – loving – every bit of our trip together through the land of Jordan.
I remember how, once we had returned to our rather more mundane existence back in the UK, there was the usual swapping of photographs and videos. Watching a video of some of us desert wanderers in the back of one of the jeeps, I wondered who the guy with the distinctive (weegie) Scottish accent was, who was whooping with delight and shouting “Hold on tight – here we go…”. I was sure there were no Glaswegians amongst us, I was the only Scot there.
It took me a wee while to twig that the voice was mine. Duh!
Yes, it was me. I was the one enjoying myself so much. It was a bit of a shock. Surely, I cannot sound like that – I don’t have an accent! And when was the last time I had ever expressed the joy of a child on an adventure?
Being on the Foundation Year of our counselling course at Physis this year has been a bit like that journey through the sand dunes.
As a fellow countryman, Robert Burns, put it – to see ourselves as others see us.
Surprised, to find out that you are much more than what you think of yourself. That you sound different to how you think you sound to yourself. That you are different from your own perception of yourself.
It’s good to be on the back of a jeep again, bouncing up and down. To be doing it in the company of others too, all enjoying the trip. This time, in the back of a jeep we will name Physis.
Sure, there are times when you have left the ground behind and are sailing through the air. Wondering what happens next, and will my natural (ahem!) padding cushion me when I hit a bump and bounce on my backside.
But it’s really OK, because we are all in the back of the same jeep – together. Though sometimes flying by the seat of our pants, we are here to help each other and to hold each other. To cushion each other.
As our wonderful teachers say – “I wonder how that lands with you?”.
It’s very OK with me – I want to do it again. To whoop “Hold on, here we go ….” once more.
So many of us have found a voice this year. Perhaps one that we never recognised that we had, either through non-use or because we did not truly know what lay within us. It has been so wonderful to see. The growth, the blossoming, in others and in my own self.
And it has been fun in to the bargain. Worth a few bruises on the bahookey.
