The lead-up to the Tough Mudder weekend was full of excitement! We were looking forward in running the mud course together as a team as we all spent a lot of time and money training up for this event. The energy we put in to organizing a team, coordinating with each other to get the details in order, reaching out to sponsors for support, committing time to meet together for training, all required energy from already busy lives!
And then it got cancelled.
Due to all the rain, the site got flooded and the organizers had to cancel it due to safety concerns.
Obviously, everyone was disappointed but not to the extent where people’s spirits were down.
When you train at Olive Branch, it is our hope that everyone is fully present and focused 100% on not just the exercises, nor the mental state, but also the camaraderie of being in a group of individuals who have voluntarily committed their precious personal time to endure one of the most gruelling classes in Shanghai (apparently, this is the reputation!)
It is the journey and not the destination that makes the whole experience of training at Olive Branch special.
We encounter new faces, foster new relationships, and build strong bonds with our “mountain-climbing” neighbours next to us that are unique and kindred.
At the time, we don’t realize the importance of this act but something special happens when you do it again, and again in the following weeks, and with the same familiar faces. A community of like-minded individuals begin to grow.
And that’s when things really start to take off.
From The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More, Bruce Feiler writes:
“After examining studies of more than three thousand adults, Chaeyoon Lin and Robert Putnam found that what religion you practice or however close you feel to God makes no difference in your overall life satisfaction. What matters is the number of friends you have in your religious community. Ten is the magic number; if you have that many, you’ll be happier. Religious people, in other words, are happier because they feel connected to a community of like-minded people.”
We may not be a religious group, but we are a group of heath enthusiasts and we like to take care of our bodies, mind and spirit.
Studies also show that being in a community also has psychological benefits. It feels good to be part of a group – the feeling of belonging is essential to mental health.
From The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier and Happier:
“Other experiments showed that when people connect— and especially when they touch each other— oxytocin is released, which damps down their stress and enables them to trust each other… A simple handshake, a pat, a fist-bump, a friendly nudge, or a high five does the trick. The effect isn’t limited to one-on-one interactions, either. All evidence points to social contact lowering stress among colleagues and making a team more cohesive.”
And last but not least, as a community, we take care of each other.
Most of human existence, we lived in small tribes of a couple hundred individuals. We were constantly surrounded by friends and families whose survival depended on each other. Mothers would be cooking and preparing meals, sisters and daughters weaving baskets, while men and brothers were out on the hunt or protected the tribe from rival tribes.
Although, living in Shanghai in the 21st century we may not be as concerned about the marauding Suzhou-ren coming to ransack our homes, we still need a community to help us in times of need.
One day, you too may need help with a strained calf muscle, or in need of an emergency office space to take an important meeting, or a kick-ass team to support you in making an awesome event happen; or even help to put a dislocated shoulder back in place. And in those situations, you can rest assured that that same mountain-climbing neighbour has got your back; and you have theirs.