by Donovan Guerrero

Published: Lifelines for Health Fall 2019

Action. The willpower that it requires to take risks is vital to growing as a person. Sometimes I struggle with this. I think it is imperative for young adults like myself to do this to gain independence.

This past September I was blessed with an opportunity to apply for a program called LeverageSM. I had heard very little about this camp specially designed for adults with inhibitors. My mother actually filled out part of the application without my knowledge. I was shocked to get a call from Eric at CHES, never having met him, asking if I’m still interested in the program. I was unfamiliar with the two facilitating organizations, GutMonkey and CHES. Within three weeks of that phone call, I was packing my gear and preparing to go to Portland, Oregon.

The first lesson that I learned was the elephant-rider- path-theory (a concept that explains the conflicting struggles within all of us. Developed by the Heath brothers in a book called Switch, it’s the idea that everyone has a figurative elephant along with a rider inside him/herself. The elephant (relative to our emotions) is often controlled by the rider (our thought of logic.) But at times, our elephant (or emotions) can derail from its path by outside factors. And at this point, it’s our rider’s responsibility to motive our elephant to return to its path.) This lesson resided with me the most. There was not one significant moment that I could point to as being a pivotal moment during this program. I think it was more of an accumulation of different challenges and tasks that I can focus on. To name a few in particular, would have to be the rock-climbing tower, building didgeridoos, and the high ropes course. I felt as though these were the biggest barriers I overcame. From the burning of my forearms on the tower, frustration of my didgeridoo cracking all over, and recovering from the splits on the stirrups obstacle on the high ropes course. My elephant wanted to give up – tell me to stop climbing, stop trying, stop caring. But the elephant-rider-path-theory really pushed me to succeed.

Personally, I think about when I do great things or go to amazing places, I always end up asking myself the same question when I return home: “What’s next?” For example,
I like setting goals. One goal I made a few months prior was to get my boating license so I can operate a boat that has 25 horsepower or more. I’ve almost completed the course currently and hoping to pass the test soon after. My current boat does not require a boating license since it only has 7.5 horsepower. I did it to learn the “rules of the road” so to speak and so I’m already ahead of the game when I get a big boat in the future. When the time comes, I’m sure I will evaluate my decision and think to myself, “Yay, you passed the test!” Then when I buy a nice boat, I will think, “Well, now I guess I should take a fishing trip to Alaska for salmon, or Florida for smallmouth bass, or even the Great Lakes for perch and crappie.”

It’s that drive that I have to learn and share. For me, I want to keep setting goals and I don’t want to meet them,
I want to surpass them. To go above and beyond. Like the difference from getting an “A” or a “B” on a test. I’m at a point in my life where I graduated high school and I’m not attending college this year. I want to go next year but I wanted to take time off and become a more mature person, learn more on my own and gain independence, and work to save up for college. All of these facets would contribute to working on my mental health as well. What I really want to do is take the remainder of the year head on. Take a “gap year” on. Leverage definitely gave me the support and the confidence to do that. I have big plans ahead of me. Taking action to put them in motion is the crux of the issue. I want to be a leader in some fashion.

Thank you to Takeda pharmaceuticals for making this event possible. Thank you to CHES and GutMonkey for putting on a great Leverage 2019.