Enrol Yourself #PowerLab, a magical adventure
For the last six months of 2018, I have had the privilege to share an epic adventure with eleven of the most fascinating and magical people you could ever meet (that’s them pulling silly faces above).
The words below I wrote in December 2018 at the end of our Learning Marathon— a self reflection on my personal experience and the culmination of a message I felt called to share. I share them with you as gentle encouragement to trust the process and following your gut — I would wager that you’ll end up somewhere magical.
“For me, this learning marathon has been many things — a chance to explore the different meaning, manifestations and iterations of ‘community’, a unique opportunity to ponder with my friends the definition of ‘belonging’ as well as, maybe most importantly, a gift of a deepened understanding of what I want and need from my own community, friendships and how I can create or curate a sense of belonging in my everyday life.
At the start of our journey I showed my fellow Enrolers some photographs of communities I had been part of in the past, including the this one, from when I was a fresh-faced 18 year old. At the time I thought I was presenting them as evidence to show that by virtue of being a participant in a socially minded community, I had the recipe to create my own. But, hidden in plain sight within those photographs was my ‘real question’ — if my photographs depicted a time when I truly felt I belonged, did I feel like that now?
I knew the answer, and it was no.
A few weeks later, I read an article that said research has shown that most people make the majority of their friends before they turn 25 — this was not good news for me. If I was honest with myself, I don’t think I would want to be friends with me before I was 25! I sometimes wonder if I saw some of my friends from my early twenties in the street, would they even recognise me? (Quick shout out to the amazing people who loved me then, and still love me now. I see you and I love you!)
But this isn’t a pity story, this is only to say that during my Learning Marathon I unearthed something — a void, a lacking, a gap — a space in my life that I wanted, and needed, to fill with real connections, true friendships and people who match who I am today.
So, in short, that is what I have spent the last six months doing — making friends, connecting with people, talking to people about their friends, their communities and their lives — making an effort to ‘real friend’™ people whenever I can and feeling constantly inspired, motivated and amazed by each and every one of them. And do you know what, it’s been absolutely fucking lovely”
I joined Enrol Yourself in the anticipation that it would allow me to create accountability and space for a personal project — I did not anticipate that what I would experience was a fundamental shift in my own self awareness about how I want and need to be within my life and this planet we call home. I have no doubt the learning, reflections and relationships I gained will continue to enrich my life over the months and years to come.
Whether you know exactly what you want to explore (like I thought I did) or are still ensure, or you would like someone to hold you accountable or you’re on the hunt for some epic new friends — Enrol Yourself is for you, trust me.
Update March 2021: I am delighted to share I am now a trained Enrol Yourself host. I will be hosting The Sheffield Pioneers in my home city of Sheffield, UK from May 2021. To find out more visit this page.
