When I was young, I was a Boy Scout. It’s true! In Australia at least, if you’re aged over 14 you can join the Boy Scouts as a Venturer. That’s what I was. We used to go hiking, camp in the snow, sail, explore, get lost, have fun, live our best lives, make some bad decisions…
One of my strongest memories is from an overnight hike where a new girl was walking sooooo slowly she kept falling further and further behind. When we asked her what was wrong, she said her backpack was too heavy. We all agreed the best thing to do was redistribute her load; we’d all take a bit out of her bag and put it into ours. Imagine our surprise when she pulled out an ENORMOUS bag of cosmetics followed by a hairdryer. A hairdryer? When was the last time you saw a power-point in a tree trunk?!?
I’m embarrassed to say that whilst we DID redistribute her load, as gnarly 16-year-olds, we were NOT very gracious about it.
But it gets worse.
About an hour later, I noticed there was a dark stain behind her ear that hadn’t been there earlier in the day. I moved a bit closer and realized it was thick and shiny and snuggled neatly into the space between her ear and her head. I was just about to put my hand on her shoulder and say, “hey, you’ve got a massive blood-sucking-leech on you” when another hiker grabbed my arm and frantically shook their head. The implication was, she deserved this – leave it be.
Karma, however, doesn’t always unfold the way you imagine…
The leech stayed on her awhile longer, until eventually she reached up and felt it. Knowing what it must have been… she promptly fainted.
Her load got re-redistributed (so she could walk pack-free) and we labored away for the rest of the hike with her ‘essential accessories’.
I have no idea where she is now – if you’re reading this – I AM sorry that we weren’t overly nice to you that weekend, but you were given a detailed packing-list, and a hairdryer wasn’t on it… but, since that’s not very kind and I’m really trying to be more sunshine-and-goodness… let’s just stop at the important bit, with a non-conditional: I’m sorry.
Anyway – long story short – as someone who got into the whole merit-badge-collecting thing when I was younger, I was surprised to come across a blog that talks about an adult version of sew-on badges, that includes challenges for getting healthy: Rainbow Rebel’s Badge Journey (wordpress.com)
Through Alessandra’s website I discovered the seller of badges: Rebel Badge Store, which is where the following screen-shots come from:
I love that there is a ‘typical’ badge for Camping, but I’m thrilled that there’s also one for ‘Adulting’ – gosh I’d like to get myself one of those one day! There was also ones for Mindfulness and Self Care, and about 50 others you can aim for (or reward yourself with).
So – if you’ve been a good adult today, why not give yourself a quick pat on the back… or the shoulder, and imagine a nice yellow “you did it” badge on your sleeve!
Take care out there… and beware of the leeches, Linda xx
The Mindful Migraine 
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