How I broke a Guinness World Record
Hello there you wonderful reader! Welcome to a new section of my blog called Travel stories! This is where I’ll share with you some stories, anecdotes and adventures that happened during my travels. Some long or short memories from interesting moments of my life. To start off this new section, I decided to talk about how I broke a Guinness World Record!
This is something I would have never imagined to accomplish! For sure, it happened that I fantasied about it. But to actually do it is another story! However, I didn’t do this alone but it was a group effort. Still, it’s an experience I’ll never forget!
So, without further ado, this is the story of how I broke a Guinness World Record while living in Australia.
How the Guinness World Record breaking experience started
May 2018, Sydney, Australia.
Around this time I was living a pretty sad period. I was still processing the end of my first relationship. Questions of what to do with my life were all over my mind. Also, I didn’t know whether to stay in Australia for longer or leave.
If you managed to read my post on how Australia changed my life, you know the connection that exists between me and this country. So, the thought of leaving it was taking a big portion of my energy.
The timing for this incredible experience couldn’t have been better! One day, I was scrolling on Facebook and a free stargazing event happening at Sydney Uni popped up.
I’m a sucker for the night sky. From looking at and learning about stars, planets, black holes and other forms of life. My eyes and mind would spend hours looking up and dream about the universe. You can read more about it under this picture.
Anyway, when I saw this free stargazing event that it was also an attempt to break a Guinness World Record well, I booked it immediately!
What was this Guinness World Record breaking experience about?
So, yeah, cool but what did you actually do to break a Guinness World Record? I’m glad you asked.
Basically, the record that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian National University were trying to beat was “the most people stargazing at once in multiple venues”. This means that all across the country people gathered together to look at the stars at the same time for 10 minutes. Not an easy thing to achieve in such a massive country with different timezones in it!
The previous record was set, again, in Australia in 2015 when almost 8000 people looked at the stars. So that was the number to beat. And it did happen! In 2018, over 40000 people gathered together to admire the universe and I was among them!
It was so magical how the night went. The park surrounding the university was packed. Oh when COVID wasn’t still a thing! Also, there were many people, displays and hosts sharing information about the universe.
At times, people doing the same in other areas of the country would show up. From Sydney to Perth, Brisbane and even from the outback. We were all in this together to try and make a bit of history.
That night, the sky was very clear and ready for us to admire it. If you didn’t have your own telescope, they would gift you one. Then, when everything was ready, you had to look through it for 10 minutes.
After that night, I was constantly checking for updates. Just being part of it was awesome. But the thought to actually achieve this goal was even more awesome! When the news came out, I was so happy! Even though it wasn’t a personal record, I felt over the moon! My contribution to it was probably small however, it still helped.
During that night, all my worries, sadness, stress and anxiety went away. It was just me, the night sky and other people united for a common goal. You could feel the happiness, amusement, joy and surprise in everyone’s soul. We were looking at and learning about our celestial neighbours. Something so distant yet so close and beautiful.
Your contribution matters
It felt very good thinking about this experience after so long. So many mind pictures of it came back while writing it and it made me feel happy. That’s why I wanted to share it with all of you. It’s also a good reminder that collective achievements are also our own achievements.
Before publishing this post, I was a bit concerned about it. I didn’t want to fool you or write something misleading. My constant overthinking made me delete and rewrite many parts of it. Thoughts like “You didn’t actually do it” or “You didn’t really break a Guinness World Record” came up often. However, I still went ahead with it. The certificate might not have my name on it. Or it might never appear on the actual book. But it doesn’t matter.
My tiny contribution to this even was real. I loved doing it. It was a happy, unique and different night for me. And probably for many people as well. We all did it thanks to our own tiny contributions.
So, if you ever think that what you do is pointless. It’s not true. It might not look much or important to you, but it is to others. It can help you or other people achieve a bigger goal. Be proud of yourself and what you do. Celebrate any accomplishment you get and learn from any mistake you make.
I hope you enjoyed this first travel story time on how I broke a Guinness World Record. It’s definitely a format I’m still working on and trying to improve. But it had to start from somewhere! For sure this will unlock many more memories and stories I probably forgot about. Also, it’s a great way to share more things with all of you.
Feel free to write in the comments a little story, achievement or anything you’d like to share about yourself! I’ll be so happy to read them!
