Finding the meaning of "Team"

I wrote this, from the comfort of my bed on a sunny Sunday morning glued to a GPS tracker, while my brave husband was “Yomping” over the finish line of the Cateran Yomp on 9/6/24.???

It's the biggest, toughest event of its kind. Every year, hundreds of Yompers gather in the Scottish wilderness to battle through the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains, walking continuously for 54, 36 or 22 miles over 24 hours to raise funds for the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF). Based on an infamous long-distance military training march, it takes every ounce of grit you possess.???

It was an emotional moment.?It was his personal achievement and yet, it was also his team’s achievement, an Oracle company achievement, an achievement for the ABF charity, the thousands of people supported by them and all the participant's families, friends, sponsors, volunteers and local suppliers.

Think of the ripple effect... ??

But it was also “our” achievement.?Together we discovered a new hobby when he signed up for this challenge, after an intense period of personal loss in our family. Over the winter we started walking…?! (I know right?!… queue reflection and re-programming work on my bias, thinking about the demographic of the walking community!) ????.?

Together we both got mentally & physically fitter. I added muddy walking boots to my pristine trainer collection. ?? We yomped across 500kms of unexplored, beautiful, New Forest wilderness. ?We reset our work-rest-agenda together.

We experienced the magic of watching herds of fallow deer ?? running silently through the Forest.?(Thank you AllTrails!).?We rediscovered our 9 year old selves, finding tadpoles ?? in spring creeks.?We laughed and got muddy walking across fallen logs over puddles, and we breathed in fresh air away from the city, watching shaggy New Forest ponies ?? lying in the grass. ?

We have learned so much about ourselves meeting this challenge together. My husband always inspires me - we are a team - but he has found a new level this year.???

Courage, grit and determination ?? can be such a variable companion of the human spirit. When you are part of a strong team, you lift each other up ???? in moments of darkness.?When you slip “below the line” of integrity or behaviour or run low on energy or hope ??- it’s your team environment that lifts you. A rallying cry, some non-judgemental, kind words of encouragement or just a reminder that there are bigger things in life that matter can keep us going. ???

Whenever we find ourselves in conflict or in need with any situation, when we become out of balance with our ego, or our environment or the people around us … we just need to look up, and around, and reconnect to the dots that lead us to a higher purpose - Mission Human - that’s what connects us all. ?

And if we all strive to "improve" rather than "prove" and "do our best" rather than “be the best” ... what a strong team we become. ??

#missionhuman #cateranyomp #pax8 #oracle?