Leadership Waterloo Region: Opening Retreat Reflection
My life's journey has brought me to so many different places. I would have never thought that I would be currently enrolled in leadership training through Leadership Waterloo Region, a program that is *designed to help participants acquire both a broader understanding of the critical issues affecting our community and the leadership skills necessary to resolve them.
Over the past year I have been struggling with believing in the notion of "YES I CAN" which to some, might come as a surprise. I have done so many wonderful things and have met so many interesting people that it only makes sense that my path has lead me here. I was so excited, at our opening retreat hosted at the Elmhurst Inn (Ingersoll ON), to start the program . As excited as I was I had no idea what to expect because I had never done anything like this before! There are a few very important things/moments from that weekend that will stick with me for a long time. I remember sitting down on the first day and listening to my classmates introduce themselves as we went around the table, you had to say your name, what company you were from and your title. As I sat there listening to everyone I could only remember thinking... what the heck am I doing here with all of these amazing people!!! And then asked myself...how do I fit into this? As the weekend programming progressed, I found myself being forced to think back to all of the experiences I have had in my professional journey and how they have contributed to my life as a professional now. In particular it made me think back to my first job after college working at a spa uptown Waterloo. I spent about five years working in this environment, I met so many different people and worked within a mix of very strong personalities who thrived on interaction and self expression. Leadership was all around me, I didn't see it then, but it was definitely there in my clients, colleagues, mentors, even me. The professional growing I did throughout my time at the spa, I now realize, was one of the most pivotal experiences I have had in my life. It not only transitioned me from student to professional but it gave me the tools I needed to carry on into my next phase of professional development. I have always been easily inspired by others and love to dream about things that I would like to do one day. Often I get so excited and act on impulse. I'll start signing up for courses or cold calling people for interviews... yada yada yada... and then BOOM completely lose interest or end up frustrated and eventually the thought or idea just passes me by. I am not sure where I get this frustration from but I think its because I start to feel overwhelmed and unsure about the decisions I have made. Sometimes I put other less important things ahead of myself and pour too much energy into them until I have nothing left. One of the facilitators at our workshop shared a little metaphor with our class that gave me a complete a-ha moment regarding these frustrations, she said: "when thinking about your journey think about it as if your about to climb Mount Everest, your standing at the bottom and you know have long way to go but instead of looking up towards the summit just look straight ahead towards your next step". Its simple advice but it spoke so loudly to me, it was exactly what I needed to hear...
There are lots of things I am passionate about. I have found as I grow older that there are things you love to do and things you need to do to survive. What I mean is that I love my job and my team but I need to express myself creatively and feel connected to people and their stories on a deep and personal level. In the past two years I have found photography. I am still learning but feel like I'll never learn enough because I love it so much! It wasn't until I started looking through a "lens" that I discovered how beautiful, quirky, and fascinating people and our planet are. It makes me want to tell everyones story because everyone has a story to tell. At the Leadership Waterloo Opening Retreat we were shown a National Geographic video that talked about photography as a metaphor, looking at things through different "lens" or "angles", how to recognize the creativity and opportunity around you, its always there you just have to believe it.
