peer leaders '09

I thought today was going to be just another ordinary field trip, but believe me it wasn't. As a Peer Leader I was required to partake in this "learning experience" which I thought was going to be a fun and carefree day. But, to my surprise it was a complete aberration which I had not foresaw. As my friends and I gathered together, we walked across the street from Pascack Valley to the church, since we were supposed to meet in its basement to listen to a well-known life coach, Robert Pruitt. Everyone walked in at a chary pace, since no one knew what this speaker was going to talk to us about. As we all began to flood the once capacious room, everyone became at ease since the life coach, Mr. Pruitt, began to play music that we all were quite familiar with. He then turned off the music once everyone had taken a seat and began his intense speech about how we are responsible for the choices we make in life and how we shouldn't let anyone influence or mislead us from the goals that we strive for. His presentation was the farthest thing from desultory due to the fact that he used a great scenario to depict the lesson he was trying to teach us, which had the audience in hysterics. He explained how the first time he went on the ride, Kingda Ka, a man told him that it was a crazy attraction that he should think about before deciding to ride it. Mr. Pruitt explained that he would not let this stranger's opinion influence his own, and proceeded to decide to walk up the endless flight of stairs to the ride. He then emulated how he rode the ride with his hands straight up in the air, rather than halfway in the air, because he explained how he was going to have the best experience possible. It was a great way to start the presentation, but I slowly began to notice a gradual crescendo of the intensity of the life lessons he continued to present to us.

Mr. Pruitt then began his presentation on trust. He asked all of us to stand up if we considered ourselves to have issues trusting people. It took a while for people to take the initiative to stand up, but once they did, it created a "domino effect" and other people started standing including myself. I have always been a person who does not trust people easily because I feel as though it is so hard to find people that I can depend on besides my own family. He then asked the people who decided to stand if a couple of them would like to challenge and overcome their issues with trusting people in front of everyone today. I was not one of the people who decided to do the activity, but observing it impacted me just the same. The activity that Mr. Pruitt had decided to do made the peer leaders who were not involved make two lines across from one another so that each person was facing someone else, which would be their partner. Each pair of partners held a dowel, and the people doing the activity had to be blindfolded and climb across the dowels that everyone was holding, by crawling across on their hands and knees and only listening to the guidance of their peers to get them across. As the people were being blindfolded and prepared to cross the sea of suspended dowels, I noticed a complete change in their demeanor. They were overcome with tears because this was not just an activity, but rather an emotional and internal journey for them to relinquish their inability to trust others and learn to have faith in themselves. It was an incredible sight to see these strong people, who were my friends, overcome this fear in front of everyone who were all cheering for them to keep on going and supporting them until they got to the end. Once the exercise was over, we all were able to reflect on what just happened. I took this opportunity to find the courage to stand up in front of everyone and explain the small self-discovery I had undergone while watching all of this take place. But, as I began to speak I went through a paroxysm of crying and it was hard for me to express what I wanted, since I had been so emotionally touched. I had finally commandeered my emotions with the help of Mr. Pruitt telling me to breathe and focus which proved to be quite difficult. Basically what I had said was how I admired the people who had participated in the activity because they had revealed their vulnerability, which I am not one to do. I also said that it made me realize that it is okay for people to see me as being weak sometimes, because I know that I have too much pride and feel I have to be in control of everything I do. But, I came to the realization that I am not going to be able to do everything on my own in life, and that people are going to be there to help me along the way. Also, I need to let my peers have an opportunity to see me as a more emotional individual since that is how I can develop deeper relationships with people by opening up a window for them to peek into my life every now and then. Once I had expressed myself to my fellow peer leaders, Mr. Pruitt said, "Do you realize that you just showed your vulnerability to everyone just now?". And once I saw his warm smile I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and that I had taken the first step towards discovering who I am as a person on a deeper level than ever before.

After the day had come to a close, I was so thankful for being given the opportunity to be inspired by such an eminent speaker who will change my perspective on myself and my decisions in life for years to come. :)