A Challenge

Do you enjoy challenges? What kind of challenge do you enjoy? Physical? Mental? Why do you think this is so? Can you give an example of a challenge you have faced, or one you would like to face? How about a challenge you would not like to face. If you don’t like challenges, explain why you don’t.


I believe that the human body was not created to idly stand by and needs to be exercised and stressed to its limits. I also believe in the philosophy of "healthy body, healthy mind" and that  physical challenges help us stay agile and sharp-minded. When the body is not properly worked out, our muscles waste to atrophy and brain chemicals will be unbalanced, leaving us tired and unhappy. Similarly, when a mind is not worked out and gathers rust, the person becomes sick.

Some people like to test the limits of their physical or mental capabilities by committing themselves to accomplishing the extreme. Other more passive individuals dislike hardships but accept them as necessary and possible to overcome, and some dance around challenges without ever facing them.

I hardly ever go searching for challenges (unless I am very bored - like I have been for the last three-and-a-half quarters in PAS), and when I encounter them involuntarily, I usually respond with extreme irritation.
When the challenges pass, however, I realize how beneficial they are as they taught me new skills and added to my life experiences.

Challenges stimulate the body, either mentally, physically, or both. I enjoy challenges as long as I know I have the ability to solve them. Aiming to run a mile under 6:20 (my record was 6:22 or so), for example, is a physical challenge I can think of.

The mission trips I went on in my Bethany days are examples of challenges as we were to lead a class with activities and teach them English over the course of a week.
A physical challenge I have encountered was when I was river-trekking in Wulai. With water temperatures near freezing in addition to the ridiculously fast-moving and deep water currents, I was clinging to the surfaces of the rocks for dear life.


A challenge I would like to face is to do community service in another country through Rustic Pathways or a similar organization.