A journey to reconnect with myself
Note: the original post was written by Faiza Summer, a member of AIESEC in Tartu. The trip was supported by the Estonian National Foundation of Civil Society from their travel fund.
Something was off. I was feeling it. I loved being busy and defeating procrastination I always do, but for some unknown reasons, I was hunching to reconnect with my inner self. I wanted to spend some time to retreat my spirit, stimulate my consciousness and intellect. An opportunity to become a delegate in KaMMSum (Karlsruhe Middle Management Summit) opened up and I ended up on the edge of the Black Forest, in the southwestern part of Germany.
KaMMSum was an international leadership conference, designed to take you as team and project leaders to the next level in terms of leadership and team management. The delegates traveled from all around the world to be a part of this amazing conference. All of them were carefully assembled in home groups (HGs) with two facilitators.
The icebreaker session was one of a kind. It all started with simple questions/answers with your homegroup members. While getting to know my members, whenever those strangers replied “ME TOO” in answers, I knew that there will be lot of new friendships build in upcoming days. The bonding grew stronger and stronger every minute, with every question answered. At the end of the session, I could sense every heart and mind was ready to embrace new beginnings and new learnings.
With every planned activity, we discovered a little more about ourselves, discovered our strengths and weaknesses, learned to appreciate, to listen, and refreshed our own forgotten values. Every activity helped us to think about how we can impact positively with our doings. Everybody is already a leader in daily life, but it’s time to embrace it publicly with pride.
Surprisingly, knowing my own weaknesses and didn’t weigh me down but helped me to relieve my fears so that I can embrace all my strengths.
The learning was not only limited to the plenary sessions or homegroup activities but also continued under bright stars into the forest, in guided meditation, though-provoking walk and talk sessions with facilitators really benefit to absorb all the input.
Last but not least, I would like to say thank you to each one of them who made this happen. I would also like to encourage aspiring members and leaders to join such activities, to know yourself at deeper level and to be a better version of yourself. Give yourself time to reset. When you give yourself time, your mind is clear and therefore your light can better shine.
GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE!
This experience was something you can experience as a member of AIESEC. The travel was supported from the travel fund of the Estonian National Foundation of Civil Society. Check out what the foundation does here.
