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Positive Mental Attitude

This past week I was off on an adventure.  On Monday, in the darkness of an early morning, I boarded a charter bus full of 5th graders, teachers, and other chaperones headed to Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, MN.  5 days and 4 nights together, with a schedule so intense that I wondered if I had made a mistake when I volunteered to go.

I was a veteran to Wolf Ridge, but my last trip was in ninth grade and my memory of the experience was very sketchy.  One thing that I did remember was a class called Winter Survival.  A three hour course in which you and your teammates were "stranded" in the woods and had to use the simple supplies provided to make shelter, build a fire, and make hot cocoa.  At the time I was scared of matches so starting a fire felt super daunting and I remember the COLD as we worked to build a shelter!  

This time around, the class fell on our last day.  I was prepared with hand warmers and many layers.  We met in the classroom for a quick discussion before we would head out to "survive."  The naturalist divided us into teams and gave each group laminated cards with the basic necessities printed on them.  Food, Water, Air, Shelter, PMA, Warmth.  We had to try to place them in order of priority.

We looked them over.  PMA was Positive Mental Attitude; something that I never heard listed as a basic need, but soon found out that it was the top priority, even over air.  When something goes wrong and you find yourself in a situation of peril, the first thing you have to do is decide that you want to take a breath, decide that you are going to try, decide that you can make it and want to live.  The kids were surprised and wanted to argue about the urgent need for air, but our leader was adamant that we would have to have PMA in order to make any of the other things happen. 

My team survived the class.  We worked together to build a shelter, gather firewood, and start a fire (to heat snow that eventually turned into cold cocoa-yuck!).  It was a lesson in patience and persistence.  Twice our fire went out and we had to restart.  I felt like giving up.  It was the last day of a long trip and even though my team was full of adults, none of us had much "fire master" experience.  It would have been easy to throw in the towel and pretend that we had made it through the challenge, but we didn't.  We finished with a hearty clink of our tin cups of cold cocoa and a sigh of relief that we had survived.

I was so grateful for this lesson.  I needed the reminder that I have a choice in how I want to enter each situation.  Negative or positive.  Sink or swim.  Each time I am presented with difficult news or circumstances, I get to decide if I am going to put PMA first on my priority list.  Can I muster the courage to dig in and say yes, this is worth it, I can and will make something happen?

I am so happy that our fifth graders got the message that attitude is everything.  It is a lesson that I hope they will carry with them for a long time.  I know I will.




Check in with your PMA?  What is your first reaction when adversity strikes?

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