BLOG: 24h Meet the Marines Experience by Jeannette Martens
It's now my third time taking part in this, but each time you still undeniably feel the jitters. Can I do it? Especially because this time I also have to deal with a right hamstring that is not cooperating. The first time, I distinctly remember my heart beating in my throat when we arrived at the site and reported to the camp commander. What on earth did I get myself into? At the end, you are devastated, yet you immediately cry again ‘when is the next edition?’ Physically it is certainly tough, but the challenge is mainly mental. The event's slogan is ‘expect the unexpected’. Dare to step out of your comfort zone and overcome yourself, that's what it's all about. And I certainly learned a lot from that (and am still learning about it every day, for that matter...) Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, dealing with fears; these are all things we also encounter in our work and daily life. Over the years, I have become more and more interested in mindset and mindset. Maybe that is why I enjoy (sporting) challenges like the Meet the Marines 24h Experience so much! (Self-)confidence, resilience, focus... the parallel between sports and ‘life’ is easy to make here.
Again, it was definitely a real Experience (with capital E), I am secretly quite proud that we did it and were also the best team in our class.
And oh man, it was tough again. I certainly didn't go in already 100% fit, with a nagging hamstring injury. Of course, preparation for an event like this consists of both a mental piece and a physical piece. So the physical preparation may not have been ideal, but of course, you can always ask yourself when in this life things will ever be perfect. So the mental preparation might then become all the more important. Especially if you know beforehand that it will be tough or difficult, and you feel a lot of tension, nerves, or maybe even fear. Instead of fighting that negative feeling, I try to embrace it instead. Do you feel the proverbial stone on your stomach or that oppressive feeling in your chest? Embrace it like an old friend. It's your body's way of preparing you for what might be coming, and so it's actually not a negative feeling at all but actually very positive! Your body is ready for it! Get comfortable with being uncomfortable! I always try to stick very closely to my breathing in the moments when I feel this, consciously breathe towards my belly and not my chest; breathe out twice as long as I breathe in and very consciously relax my jaws and belly.
From the moment the starting signal sounded, you are immediately swept full steam ahead into the chaos of the missions you have to do as a team. You have no idea what to expect; the motto is ‘Expect the unexpected’ for a reason! Again, my breathing helped me a lot to stay in the here and now. After all, worrying about what might come next has a huge negative effect. If I caught myself thinking thoughts like ‘How long will this take?’ or if I started thinking too much about where it all hurt in my body, I tried to go back to my breathing and ground myself in the here and now by literally feeling my feet in the ground. At one point, at about 4 o'clock in the morning, we were taken out of our tents with air alarms and fireworks and had to go along at full speed, away from the camp. During this speed march, I saw the sun starting to rise on the horizon, and then I literally said to myself a few times ‘You are here, now.’
This can also really help you reach that mental ‘tipping point’, which allows you to go from thinking negatively to thinking positively and strongly again. And especially because I really had a tough time this edition, both mentally and physically, I noticed that I find it so unreal special every time that mental turning point arrives. How quickly or easily you can reach that turning point for yourself is, in my view, an important part of being mentally strong. So try thinking about what, for you, are those things that make you start thinking positively and strongly again? For me personally, I notice that - besides the breathing exercises and ‘grounding’ as I mentioned above - the words and energy of others also have a lot of influence on me. Of course, this can also very easily become a pitfall (when, for example, you very much attract the negative opinion of others and allow yourself to get dragged into a negative spiral; yep, I do too!), but that's the funny thing about all your strengths: too much and it can become a pitfall, but if you manage to harness them correctly, they become your strengths! So when the baking master complimented our effort or I felt the energy when everyone shouted yells together, I can really use that to recharge myself. Routine is also an important one for me: if I have a moment to myself to know that all my equipment is in order, to know that I have had enough to drink and have, for example, been able to put on blister plasters, muscle gel or something like that for a while, I can tell both my body and my brain that I am ready for whatever is going to happen next! (Again, a pitfall here: if you are too rigid in your routines, you can also become too inflexible mentally to react adequately to what is happening here and now). At a certain moment, after a mission in which we had to get materials to make fire at certain coordinates and then had to make fire as quickly as possible and all of us were allowed to sit around the deliciously warm fire for a while, I was able to take such a moment for myself to (literally and figuratively) take a breath and ground myself.
Also, the other missions we were allowed to do - such as a stressdrill with running and shooting, a rowing task, a river crossing where you had to move under or over a rope, and building a shelter at night in the dark and (learning) to filter water - were again super cool.
And that is also SO great about events like this 24h where you have to push your limits and get out of your comfort zone: it always teaches you so much about yourself. And that makes me quite humble and grateful. And that is why - even though it was really tough at times and I did say in my head ‘Why am I doing this?’, ‘This really was the last time’ - I just want to come back next year!
Kind regards/ Best regards,
Jeannette Martens
