It was the third day of our annual scout camp at Yercaud..We were staying in a modified store room of an estate almost 13 kilometers from the tourist hub..It was an amazing place surrounded by coffee and pepper plantations with regular visits by bisons..We had done a night trek in pouring rains the previous day and I was down with heavy fever as a result of that..After theory classes on mapping and first-aid were over that day, I went and met my scout master asking for special permission to let me sleep earlier than usual as we had to complete a 10 kilometer trek the next day...And, here came the shocker...A man, who almost treated me as his son gave a stern "No" and asked me to stay awake till the usual campfire process gets over...And, somehow, I managed to do it...Then, he came to me as I was making my way to the tent and said me this, "Never leave your body take control of your mind..".I took a few tablets(my friend too took them as he too was starting to show symptoms) and slept..What a disastrous decision it proved to be! The antibiotics and paracetamol had a combined effect on us and we felt damn tired(we had to wake up early too)...However, the previous day's lesson by my sir was echoing through my head and both of us somehow managed to complete the trek..It is one of my best treks till date and those memories will be cherished forever...like taking unknown "shortcuts" through the bushes and getting trapped inside them(something that I still do :D ), running downhill like crazy(have reduced doing this as I ended up getting sprained most of the time), keeping my eyes and ears open to any change in the surroundings(out of fear :D ) and the most important of them all..letting my mind run my body...was really happy when I heard my scout master say that it was his best trek in 15 years! Thanks a lot sir, for all these lessons and everything else you have given me and taught me..
Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired... You've always got to make the mind take overand keep going.”― George S. Patton Jr. US Army General, World war II
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