Lessons from my rafting experience on the mighty Teesta

Tista or Teesta originates in the eastern Himalayas in Tibet. It has a total course of 320km flowing through Sikkim, West Bengal, and Bangladesh before draining into the Bay of Bengal.

When we had finalised our annual sales meeting in Gangtok, our external team building facilitator Shriharsh proposed river rafting on the Teesta as an opportunity to make my sales team fight internal fears to achieve success. We liked the idea amidst lot of questions such as... What if this would happen? What if someone would fall sick? et cetera…et cetera.

On the inside, I was also very afraid. Adventures like rafting, roller coaster rides were never my cup of tea. My fragile left shoulder is something I am always afraid of.

Nevertheless, we took the plunge and we all rafted..the entire team of 67! Oh man! how we enjoyed….For the first-timers, the fear of the unknown, the rapids and sub-consicious thoughts of falling into the river etc are natural. And there were only a handful, who had actually rafted in my team. Here are some lessons that I have learnt in this rafting experience.

• Life is and should never be a straight line: If your ECG is straight, it means you are not alive. There are highs and lows in life like there are calm strips and turbulent rapids while rafting. Being calm when there is a rapid is very important.
• Have faith in your instructor: Teams have leaders and leaders have to be trusted. In situations, where in you have your doubts, confront your leaders with questions. Good leaders will understand and change course. Else, you should!

• Follow the instructions: We were unfortunate to have instructors in every raft, who would ask us to paddle sometimes and stop sometimes. They warned us of rapids ahead and issued instructions as how we should face them. In life too, we get instructions. How many of us follow them? If only we do, if only we start thinking that it is in everybody’s benefit, our journeys will be more pleasurable.
• Teamwork is everything: Each of us in the raft played our part. There were paddlers, one to steady the raft and others to encourage them. This reminds me of what I keep saying…The strength of the wolf is in the pack and the strength of the pack is in the wolf.

• Balancing is very important: Too much weight on one side, would lead to instability. Similarly, in Life, balance your work and personal life.
• Enjoy every moment: We cracked jokes, we saw the world from the river, we talked and laughed our hearts out. In the process, the rafting became a pleasurable experience. In our busy daily life too, we need to enjoy every moment. There is nothing wrong in laughing at ourselves or in times when we face difficulties. If only, we laugh away in all such occasions and just move on Life would be so fulfilling! Ha ha ha he he he…

The rafting experience has had a great lasting impact on me and my team. Such Life lessons are very important for success.