Feck the hand

The place was beautiful: a majestic river running down through a winter wonderland. Snow and ice everywhere.

But, getting down to the river was treacherous. The easiest way down was to jump from a jutting rock into the ice water below. So, that's what my group of brave souls did. One after another, they jumped in, joined by Wim Hof himself.

We were all there on one of Wim's famous winter expeditions.

After a week of training, Wim had set them a challenge: they were to spend a considerable amount of time with him in the ice river.

Once they hit the water, the real battle began. They started to breathe and focus. This turned into chanting and singing. Then, silence as everyone wrestled with their minds and the cold's impact on their bodies.

They did brilliantly, putting all their training into practise.

Their time was up. It was time to climb back up the icy rocks.

But, I knew something most of the people in the water did not: that Wim Hof was going back into the water again. He was going into the water with every one of the four groups in his expedition. This was his third time in the water and not his last.

That amount of time in that ice water would have destroyed a normal person. But, this was Wim Hof. Still though, I watched him closely with concern. He was using all his considerable power, and energy, to hold the group together.

This group was finished, but I knew Wim had to get back in again with the final group.

That was in my mind as I positioned myself at the edge of the rocky shore, helping people (with frozen fingers and toes) clamber over the icy rocks. Wim came out last. He had been the first to go in.

I held out my hand to help Wim up.

The appearance of my hand in his vision seemed to shock him for a split second. He looked at it and something seemed to click. His battle with the cold wasn't over yet. He wasn't ready for a helping hand. Wim still had work to do. He brushed by me with a wink, leapt up the rocky bank and started singing, chanting and warming everyone up.

It wasn't long before he was back in the bone-crunching cold with the final group. It was a spectacular thing to witness. There were no TV cameras. There was no world record on the line. This was just a person exploring what was possible. This wasn't just for Wim, he was exploring these new frontiers for all of us.

Not that we need to jump into an icy river.

But, we do need to be reminded every now and then, that we are strong beyond our wildest imaginations. That's what I witnessed that day.

And sometimes, we don't need the offered hand.

Instead, sometimes, we can (and must) find the strength to do the tough work ourselves.