Transformation: Dramatic

Definition

Dramatic transformation happens at the end of a dramatic arc that has built the participants up to a change. A dramatic transformation happens as a result of an intense and concentrated experience. While dramatic arcs are often associated with fiction, they can happen in experiences that feature profound confrontation with reality, or heightened emotions.

Elaboration

While wilderness trips can have characteristics of repetitive transformation, the long and demanding trips orchestrated by The National Outdoor Leadership School offer dramatic transformations, where anticipation and confrontation of a challenge in a focused time frame changes the participant. My previously mentioned moment of letting go at the end of a week-long sea kayaking trip is the result of dramatic transformation.

Other examples of experiential dramatic transformation are meditation and yoga retreats. Even just a week-long conference can produce dramatic transformation if it puts you in touch with ideas and people that you otherwise don’t have exposure to, opening you up to new possibilities and ways of seeing the world.