Day 45: Team Diversity is a Beautiful Thing

By Carol Hawkins

Today is a rest day. Since it is Sunday we all try to attend some church service. After church we are left on our own for the day. Some wanted to swim in The Great Salt Lake.

I thought that today I would focus more on the team dynamics rather than events and activities.

Imagine taking a stupidly diverse group of people and sticking them in small spaces with the same general goals. It is kind of like communal living. Unlike most communes the people in this group are so different, that to an outsider it would seem like a ticking time bomb. We do have our moments, but in general we have managed to create this most awesome family. Individual accomplishments are group accomplishments. Individual struggles are not suffered alone.

You get this support group that will cry and laugh with you, scream at the hills with you and tell you it will be alright. As the ride goes on the closer we get. I am certain that I am not someone that most of this group would have a regular relationship with. The same can be said for me with many of these members. Our circles just never would cross. I feel blessed to know that I will have a group of friends when this ride is over that have been through the hardest moments in my life and who will understand the challenges that were fought, met or failures.Ultimately what I will take away from this ride is how you can build a community with only one common thing. You have to accept the differences, and focus on the strong points of each individual to build the strength of the group.