Leader, Leadership, Leading. All of these words have had an impact on my life throughout the past couple of years. I had a basic definition of what it meant to be a leader and what exactly leadership was, but going on LeaderShape helped me develop a better understanding of what it all means and why I should care. A leader is not one person. I used to think that in order to be a leader, you needed to be older, overly qualified with years of experience and very decisive. However, in one week, my definition and outlook changed. I guess I never really thought of myself as a leader, I mean I had leadership positions in the past, but that didn't necessarily make me feel like I was a leader. I thought that in order to be a leader, you needed to have the title that says you are one. But, this retreat helped me realize that everyone has the potential to be a leader. We are all working together to create something amazing and all bring something to the table. For example, I don’t have the decisiveness of someone who is a “D” but I have the ability to connect with others as an “i.” I never really considered this a leadership quality before. I had also never thought what my vision was for the future. I had a basic thing like “I really would like to work in PR!” I also had never considered what exactly my passions were. I have a variety of interests, but actually putting into concrete words, I had never done. I remember being so worried when I heard the word “vision,” like I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated in 3 years let alone what I planned on doing during the rest of my break! I loved the way we had to do it. Like what I cared about, what I was interested in, what made me happy, what I daydreamed about, etc. I would have never thought that daydreaming about dogs would have helped lead me to my vision. I basically wrote that I cared about literacy, education, dogs, social justice, and people experiencing poverty. I talked about how reading was such an important part of my life and how I truly couldn’t fathom being able to do something that is an everyday part of my life. As I’m writing this, I have tears in my eyes. I also love dogs. Therefore, my vision became, a dream of opening a non-profit where children (potentially adults) could come and read to senior dogs. This is a way for children to feel comfortable and without fear of being judged by their peers. It also allows the dogs to spend time with people. I think that having to answer questions about the steps I would take. It is one thing to just be like “I want to start a non-profit!!” and it’s another thing to say “these are the steps I am going to take.” I signed up to do Bearcat Buddies this semester because it was a step I could take and someone recommended it! I feel much more comfortable talking about my future plans having done this. I also feel less worried about leading a group of people. This retreat caused me to go out of my comfort zone. I basically had to put my vision for the future on a big white page and hang it up for everyone else to see. I also signed up for a retreat where I only knew 3 other people. I was so uncertain the week leading up to it, that I was trying to come up with excuses to stay home. I am SO grateful I went because I not only did my family cluster really become like a family that week, but I also bonded with everyone else through playing games and just during reflections. The retreat also made me more aware of things that I do. During the final family cluster when we had to go through and give people feedback, I never even realized that some of the things I do were seen as positive skills needed in a leader. Feedback is love and that is something I really needed to hear. I am beyond beyond beyond excited that I applied for this retreat and ended up going because it helped me become more comfortable being a leader and it helped me meet so many new people!
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