GISH — Blessing or curse?
What is GISH, you ask? On the surface, it’s a week-long international scavenger hunt in which teams compete to complete a list of tasks and score points by submitting pictures and videos of their accomplishments. Look deeper though and you will discover a whole new world of creativity, imagination, kindness, pushing boundaries, and self-discovery.
When I first signed up to gish six years ago, I had no idea the amount of unreasonable pain and suffering I would face as a result of the twisted mind of Misha Collins (actor and creator of GISH). I mean, “create a raft out of plastic water bottles and float on it in a lake” … sounds simple enough right? Cut to roughly nine hours later when you’re beyond exhausted, you can’t feel your fingers anymore, and you have hot glue literally everywhere. You find yourself cursing Misha and the entire scavenger hunt while simultaneously questioning your life choices. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now all you want to do is cry and quit and never move again.
However …. at the end of the week, when you look back at all the tasks you’ve accomplished — tasks that you deemed utterly impossible when you first saw the gigantic list of items you were meant to tackle — you realize that all the frustration, pain, exhaustion, etc. was 150% worth it. GISH isn’t just a silly little scavenger hunt. It’s a chance for you to defy normalcy, step outside your comfort zone, and for one week, discover that literally nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
Over the last 6 years during gish week, I have laughed, I have cried, I have celebrated my teammates and I have learned. I have learned that I am capable of so much more than I think I am. I have learned that sometimes when you think something is impossible, you just need to shift your perspective. Most importantly, I have learned that “normal” is highly overrated.
Death to normalcy!
