‘Explore What Matters’, an introduction; So I started working for Scotty (henceforth refrred to as ‘S’) at E.W.M (Explore What Matters) a couple of months ago as an operations / logistics / office manager and here are my observations so far:
The world is so much bigger when you slow things down for a minute.
It is possible to love Mondays (and also Monday.com)
I’m slightly obsessed with organisation.
I have missed using my brain.
I am excited agaion for the future.
‘S’ has this kind of…ethos…his “mantra” I guess…if you ask him what he does for a living he’ll probably say something along the lines of “I just like to connect people, get them outside and talk about shit”. So I guess you might have be wondering why I went with “waldeinsamkeit” as the title and this pretty much sums it up. What we do. We get people outside and talk about shit.
The German word waldeinsamkeit consists of two words joined together. Wald means forest, and einsamkeit means loneliness or solitude. It hints at both the feeling of being alone in the woods and also at a peaceful oneness with nature.
Over the next 12 months we have some amazing and exciting projects planned both home and abroad which is exciting on so many levels; Namely the opportunity to grow, develop, travel and find a place i truly belong to.
Waldeinsamkeit
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Waldeinsamkeit ~~~
When I started ‘S’ asked me to make a little diary about my journey into the world of “Experiential Development” and so I started making some notes along my way. My first week was, without question, the bst working week of my life. I shadowed the team, in the beautiful Lake District, as they led a team of young, intelligent, inquisitive managers from a corporate background on a journey of self-exploration, self-reflection and development both persoanlly and professionally. Needless to say I was hooked from day 1, I tried to take in everything that was being facilitated and it made so much sense to me; from a young age I have been fascinated by people.
What they do…
How they do it…
WHY they do it…
Working with E.W.M. has made me realise that the forth question I should have been asking was; What affect does that have on themselves, the people and the world around them?
I drove home after those first few days with a beaming smile on my face, and a million questions racing through my head; since that day I have started learning more about personal mastery, positive psychology, experiential facilitation and behavioural science. I have tried to ingraciate myself into the company as much as possible. Learning from the wealth of knowledge that has been assembled by ‘S’ through the affiliates we work with and his own extensive knowledge of the field.
I was recently researching some resources for leadership development and watched this talk by Simon Sinek that puts a whole heap of stuff into perspective; it’s definitely worth the 18 minutes of your day! Make a brew, put your feet up and take it all in. I’d also highly recommend checking out his other TED talks!
I absolutely love what I do. Even in it’s infancy. I love the work, the people, the projects and the infinite list of possibilites moving forward. So what is it that we actually do you might be asking? Well that’s a definition I’m still working on…you’ll have to bare with me there. For now I’ll just say that we help people align their values, personalities and potential with an aim to them progressing in a meaningful direction. It’s very much about the people; getting them out into nature and encouraging them to breathe the fresh air. There is nothing more envigorating to the human mind.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will involve the patient in the proper use of food, fresh air and exercise.”
Waldeinsamkeit. Feeling the loneliness of being alone in the woods whilst maintaining a peaceful oneness with nature. This is something that aptly describes a lot of our work but also the feeling I have had with my new position. The move was a massive risk for me. Something that I probably wouldn’t have done just 12 months ago. I can’t thank those that pushed me to take it enough…you know who you are, I love ya.
Till next time. Ol. x