LIVE TO TELL - MENTORING RETREAT RECAP

11:00 PM Posted by MS.NOVA

can you just spot me? or can you really SEE ME?

This past week truly changed me, or should I say, helped me make a change in myself. Many of you know that I'm involved with Youth Mentoring Connection, and I've talked over and over about the awesome benefits of being and having a mentor at any phase in your life.

October 14-17 my husband Marc and I drove two hours north east to Big Bear, California (elevation: 7200ft) for a mentoring retreat. Marc's camp was all men, mine, all ladies. Fifty young women, 15-20 and about 15 mentors - twenty, thirty and fortysomething. The long and short of it was that we agreed to trust one another - trust to create and keep a space where we would bare our souls, reveal our wounds, rip our guts out and begin to repair it again.

Part of the weekend focused on our bodies and to do that, the girls were to complete a ropes course; climb a 30 foot tree and cross a tightrope by walking rope to rope, or climb 50 feet and take a 'leap of faith' towards a trapeeze which represented our goals. scary. challenging. and very real. To hear the unreal challenges these young women face and then to see them accomplish that which looked 'impossible'...to be a part of that moment, to share that energy and witness a fantastic feeling of accomplishment no one can give or take away from them... *tears*

Being a hardrock, letting no one help or get close is one approach to protecting yourself - personally I attempted to use humor to distract people from asking deeper questions when my life was in a challenge place. However, when we are able to be vulnerable, scared and flawed, it creates a chance for others to support and encourage us. Fear feeds on time, so feel it then face it. All of us have a crucial moment when we can sink or swim - and knowing your limitations is ok too - but find ways to talk yourself INTO what you want rather then OUT.

I went to Big Bear to encourage some ladies, and I do feel I did that. However, what I walked away with, the woman who came down that mountain was NOT the same woman who arrived. What happens on the mountain stays on the mountain, but man, there was some cryyyyyyyyING! Cathartic, 'i need a nap' crying. A healing type of weeping that only a woman can feel and empathize for another woman. But there were happy tears too. In crying for the girls, I wept for myself. Their wins were mine and I feel greatgreatgreat. 'Good is the enemy of great' and I'm ready to be great.

Thanks YMC and the fantastic human beings I had the pleasure of crossing paths with and sharing unreal and unforgettable moments. Thanks for reminding me that there is always something to give, and when you give, oh man, do you get.