On Thursday, after receiving several text messages that only
heightened my slight fear of flying, I hopped on a plane to Philly and headed
toward my first taste of Bike & Build. That’s right, this weekend was leader retreat, also known as
“cram as much knowledge and getting to know you” into one weekend. It was an introverts worst nightmare,
an extroverts dream, and a great opportunity to prepare for the coming months
(both practically and relationally).
 |
| co-leader bowling |
Not only did I meet my own co-leaders, but I also met and
got to know a bunch of the other route’s leaders. It was pretty excellent to see the different dynamics of
different teams and to see how well they fit/worked together. I don’t know how the program directors
did it, but all the teams really just made sense.
One of the things that I look forward to the most about B&B, and that
I think was the most refreshing about this weekend, is that it’s an opportunity
to jump out of the cozy Christian Liberal Arts School culture that I sometimes
grow all too comfortable in and/or all too tired of. There was a lot of transparency among these peers of mine at
leader retreat and “getting to know you” small talk that normally exhausts me,
was actually incredibly intriguing.
Everyone had so many different interests, and I started to wonder how
the hell I was chosen to be associated with such cool people.
I got kind of stuck inside my head at one point in the
weekend when it was brought to my attention that my Christian/Catholic
background has the potential to make some people write me off
or somewhat uncomfortable. I
thought about it a ton last night as I was going to sleep, and just when I
started feeling kind of out of place and started questioning if I should hold
back being unapologetically myself, including my faith, I met a leader from
another route who happened to be a seminarian. That’s right. A Catholic Seminarian! We chatted briefly and suddenly I felt completely
reassured (and also stupid for thinking that having different beliefs than someone
was something I would have to apologize for or dial back). (Note: I’m not some Bible beating
neurotic person, and I have no intentions of coming across that way. I just was
concerned that I might? I don’t know. I second-guess myself a lot).
Just as I expected, there was a lot of quality time spend
getting to know my co-leaders, but I was surprised by a few introspective
moments too. I re-took the Meyers
Briggs assessment and came out even on E/I (which I will now call an “X”
because it sounds cool), and switched from an N to an S. This probably means nothing to you if
you aren’t a Samford student, but for all of those who would like to put me in
some personality test box – I am now an XSFJ.
 |
| becoming "that girl" |
On the plane back, we were on an even smaller plane that
scared be even more. While we were
taking off, I just kept thinking about how silly one of my co-leaders must look
every time he lands, as he told us that he just kind of sits in a euphoric
state after landing because he recognizes what a big freakin’ deal it is to
have just flown thousands of feet up in the air for several hours. Perspective, right? So I distracted myself with homework (and I became that girl who took a picture of the clouds, because I had to prove that I was in the air),
but once I got tired of that I wrote a brief little note to remind
myself when I get to orientation, and when we make it to the West Coast about
how I felt in this
moment, right now, and what my goals and expectations
were. I also wrote myself a cheat
sheet to remind myself of my first impression of my co-leaders. It’s going to be kind of funny to
revisit that after spending so much time with them this summer. Surely, things will change and these
descriptions will be comical.
And now, to bomb a Strategy test, because who can focus on
Business School when you’re thinking about spending the summer biking across
the country?
#businessschooldropout
No comments:
Post a Comment