Darkness And A String Of Faith

Hello readers, I realised that it has been awhile since I last wrote on my blog. My apologies, I was really occupied with other tasks that required my full attention. But I have never forgotten about this blog. I miss writing. And I miss communicating to you guys! Rindu giler ok.

Despite being surrounded with tonnes of workload, my office managed to find one good day for a team building session for the whole team. Yes people, team building. Boriiinnggggggg. It was out of KL and at one of the mild forest in Perak. Not that I was very much fond of it, but I participated anyway. "It could be fun perhaps," I tried to convince myself, very hard. My ideal team building would be a great hang out with colleagues for dinner, play some games, great laugh and get to know each other better. Best of all, assign a work project that everyone has to contribute (with no excuse to escape) and let's see how the team members together accomplish the work project. Alas, forest was the main theme for the activities (typical!) and off I went overcoming my deep procrastination of it.

I do not wish to share all activities specifically because I'm sure you guys have an idea what team building activities would normally take place in a such environment. There is only one activity that I would like to share - the 'Night Walk'.

"Ok everyone, gather around and choose a buddy to walk with," the facilitator briefed shortly to all of us. So we looked to the person next to us and were like "hey come, let's walk together". So we happily walked and chatted along the way, thinking it was just a normal night walk with group of people at night after dinner.

The facilitator brought us to a point - the gate to enter to the forest. "Alright now that everyone is here, we are going make a slight change to the plan. You are not going to walk together with your buddy now. You are going to walk alone in the woods. We are going to release one after another, each in between a 5 minutes gap or more," the facilitator briefed further.

We gulped, looking at each other with the expression "Damnit! We were tricked!". It was total darkness, no torch lights or anything provided, except for the string which was attached to trees and stretched out, making it like a route that we need to follow until the end.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you will now walk on your own and your only survival kit is the string. So whatever you do, do not miss the string. Do not let it slip out of your hand. If you do, quickly find it! That string will bring you to the end point of the entire route. So let's begin with the first person," the facilitator instructed.

OMG. We felt like running back to our home and hide ourselves. We waited anxiously for our turn and I was the 11th person in the waiting line.

So, it was finally my turn. I was given the same reminder again before I started my 'journey' in the dark. I then started walking. I was nervous at first but after a while, I could feel the serenity amidst the darkness. The quietness in the woods, echoed with the sounds of crickets added to the tranquillity. I began to enjoy my very own night walk.

That enjoyment somehow got disrupted once in a while when I heard "ehemm ehemm!" in the dark. "Apa pulak tu? Takpe lah, janji tak kacau aku," I calmed myself, comforting myself from the unknown. We were told earlier that the forest used to be the Japanese base camp during the war in Malaya and a number of Japanese army died in there. Thanks for the 'great bedtime' story, Mr Facilitator. I quickly shooed away the thought and continued walking. That is not including the thoughts of encountering 'pets' of the forest like snakes or other creepy creatures. Ok serious tak sanggup nak tulis nama-nama menatang ni.

Nevertheless, at that moment, I became braver. While thanking God for giving this lifetime opportunity, I continuously challenged myself by not giving up easily. I could have just stop in the middle and scream "help! help!" to get out from the woods immediately but no, I walked. I skidded and slid at some point because I could not see anything in the dark, but I got up and continued. "Walking alone in darkness could not be so bad," I thought.

The string. Yes, the string was like oxygen to me. I held tight to it. I was affirmed to not lose it, like how a mother wouldn't lose a sight of her baby. The string was the key to success of the whole journey. Sounds easy to you readers? No, it was not honestly. I hit trees, bushes, branches, name it. There was a time my hair clip got stuck in one of the branches that I had to stop walking and entangled my hair from it. OMG. Dugaan sungguh. And yet, I had to make sure I did not lose the string from my hand while facing these obstacles. 

There was no way for me to put hope in it. I have to put faith instead. There was no other choice. I must have faith that the string will bring me to the final destination. A safe and victorious destination where I will meet everyone again and hear the cheers and laughters of them. "God, please help me. Le me go through this quickly," I prayed inside my heart.

I walked against the darkness with the string on my hand. I began to hear familiar voices. The voices of my colleagues. My heart was pounding with excitement. "Yes! I am almost there!" I whispered happily to myself. I walked with the hope that I would reach quickly but it seemed that the route was even more winding towards the end.

Walk. Faith. Walk. Faith. Walk. Faith. *more nervous*

I finally saw a dim light from far. My heart was filled with joy. I walked fast until the end and was greeted by two trainers and the facilitator. Then, I met my other team mates who reached earlier.

"Yeay, you finally made it!" they cheered upon my arrival. I was beaming with joy. What a journey I thought. I relaxed and reflected the adventurous walk I had. 

Faith brought me to the end of the journey. Faith had led me throughout the way. And faith had actually kept me safe.

Just total darkness and a piece of string made me realised that.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that" - Martin Luther King, Jr. Image taken from: http://www.layoutsparks.com

P/S: There are few days left until the survey 'Do you believe love at first sight?' is officially closed. To those of you have not participated, it would be great if you can click your answer :) To those of you have answered, thank you for participating!