RYLA - What a week!

Last week I went on an incredible journey that may not have changed many things about my character, but certainly gave me a clearer view of who I am.


RYLA is the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, and it is a seven day camp that focuses on expanding the leadership potential of young people so that they can achieve their goals in the future. It groups together seventy or so young people from all different walks of life. These include butchers, SES volunteers, nurses, IT technicians, students and people with a passion. These young people are given the chance to share their stories of hardship and challenge, and the opportunity to be a support network to those in need. This is the ethos of the Rotary organisation as a whole, which is really a global network of people who really care. These people care about how society can be improved to help the most disadvantaged, and to form relationships with people who are not necessarily in their own immediate friendship group. There is no reason that an individual should limit their experiences to people who are only in the close periphery of their life.

We started the week with team building activities, we spent the next few days gaining life lessons from many seminars and interactive activities and concluded with lots of hugging! We learnt how to lead from the middle, not the front or the back. We learnt that the journey is the goal, not the destination. We set our own definitions of failure, and we make our own destiny.

I have become a lot more confident in how I interact with people. I was never much of a hugger. I felt that it was a bit too much. But now things have changed! I know how to go out there and get things that I want - and to set very clear goals so that I can really achieve my aims. A lot of the lessons that I have learnt are internalised, and so I cannot really encompass the whole journey in words. This is why it has been such an incredible journey!!

We started and ended RYLA with a charge of energy that only RYLArians would understand. On day one, we engaged in the 'sitting down’ group activity which was a lot of fun. We also had a guest speaker talk to us about the importance of the four winds. This is a concept that involves considering the four primary factors that need to be appreciated when being a team leader. These are VISION, PEOPLE, STRATEGY and GOAL (North, East, West and South). This is a mechanism for shaping a much clearer vision of where a group wants to go. 

We started Day 2 with an inspiration speech by a toastmasters representer. Toastmasters gave opportunity for each of us to give us an extract of our lives through a powerful story that we chose to share. This was a great opportunity to get to know people at the start of the week, where we seemed to know very little about each other. This was soon to change! 

Day 3 focused on hearing stories of trying circumstances when faced with drug and alcohol issues. We heard from Georgia Prior from Wake Up. She spoke of how on the spur of the moment decisions can have major effects on the rest of your life and the lives of your loved ones. Deciding to ignore the pressures of your peers and to instead make the right decision when a friend is in danger is most likely the right decision. Deciding to turn away when someone wants to start a fight is the way to go. 

In the afternoon, psychologist Anthony Gunn talked about Anxiety and Performance. This title almost appears to be a oxymoron, but if you have the right amount of anxiety, it can have positive effects. It can motivate us to do things and to achieve goals. It also protects us. 

Anthony Gunn spoke of how worrying about the past indicates depression and worrying about the future indicates anxiety. The best way to live is in the present. His stories of his experiences as a young gap-yearian in Honduras were quite confronting - at one point he was standing in a city street and he witnessed a boyfriend and girlfriend having a dispute. The dispute ended with the boyfriend shooting the girl in the head, dragging her body off the road and then getting a bucket of water to wash away the blood. Next on the exciting agenda was a collapsed lung in an Honduran hospital and a business class ticket home to Australia. As a result of all this stress, Gunn found that he had an anxiety disorder, and as a result, could not comfortably enter hospitals. Despite the negativity of this experience on the surface, he used these events to channel a new way of thinking - and to successfully become a life coach, write various books about anxiety, and become a much more self aware and directed person. 

The following day we had the chance to hear from seasoned pilot and life coach,  Sean Redmond. Redmond had many ups and downs in his career as a pilot (literally) and found that grounding himself with a clear direction was the way to go. Despite the loss of a close friend to suicide, and the near attempts at his own life, Redmond managed to discover meaning in his life through identifying the major goals and desires that all humans hope to attain - CONTRIBUTION, SIGNIFICANCE, CONNECTION and GROWTH. He spoke highly of Tony Robson, who he sees a as role model in the field of life coaching. 

He showed me that it is OK to cry when you need to. The things that you can learn from these periods of emotional vulnerability are priceless. A real woman/man never gives up, and uses these obstacles as learning curves. He also used the analogy of a dice to show how each person looks at one situation from a different perspective. When a dice is positioned at an angle, one person may see a five and the other person may see a four. Both answers are still correct. He emphasised the need to have check points on your goal journey, and to make small movements towards your final goals each day. 

We had the pleasure of hearing from Jermaine, a past RYLArian in the afternoon of day four. Jermaine told us to just ‘eat the frog’ - which means, just DO IT! Be passionate about what you are doing - it will probably make it easier to do. He also introduced us to a new slogan that we carried throughout the rest of the week - ‘you only RYLA once’, or YORO. Don’t forget - YORO!!!

Colin Frager was the next speaker on the list - and boy, did his speech touch on quite a few issues! From a law degree to owning a $5 million dollar investment portfolio in his mid twenties, to taking two years break to volunteer in South Africa, Colin spoke passionately about working hard when you are young. This means building up your opportunities and chances whilst you are young and able. What was really lovely for me was to see his wife there beside him, offering her support throughout his presentation. They make a great team, and I hope to emulate that connection with someone one day. 

We also did some awesome team building activities - despite the incredibly wet weather!!! Shane and I were partners for the high ropes course, which I originally thought was an unlikely combination. Shane is a very macho man - who is actually a trained physiotherapist. He is an ‘eagle’ and I am a ‘dove’ according to the different personality types, so we are actually opposites when you think of it. Despite this, we got along quite well. 

We also played a strategic game where we had to match up pictures to put into a bigger picture - a series of events that made up one story. This was really fun and beneficial - it taught me how to try and view things from the bigger picture. 

The next speaker on the agenda was one of my favourites. As a former member of the RFS myself, hearing the commissioner of the SES speak was really special. Adam Dent invigorated us with the passion to never let power get to your head when you are a leader. You must always respect people as equals, but also understand that you have to make the big decisions when it comes to crunch time. He noted that weddings are optional, and funerals are obligatory. This saying denotes the need to stand in solidarity when someone is going through a difficult time, because this is when they will really appreciate your support. 

Jill Kelly gave our next lecture on time management and the need to prioritise your BIG tasks before your SMALL tasks. Her messages were great, but I think that she could have elaborated a bit more. 

The RYLArian apprentice was were we got to pitch our propositions for new rotary projects that we would like to see. Ours was the drivers education service which collaborated between small businesses and learner drivers. It was amazing to see the passion that so many people have at such a young age for such important issues. 

Brian Horan gave our final lecture goal setting, and clearing our way out of our ‘career fog’. I found this an enriching lecture, but a little more guidance on how to navigate through this fog would have been great.

The final day was charged with adrenaline from a severe lack of sleep (haha) and emotion. It meant so much to me to be able to have my father and sister come to see the final ceremony, especially considering my toast master speech focused immensely on the important role that they have had in my life. 

To conclude, I feel that RYLA was something that I am so blessed to have participated in. There is this energy and charge that I can really feel still vibrating in me over a week since we finished. Thank you for the amazing opportunity!!