YWSE's Take On ... Reflections on the Annual Retreat

By Elizabeth Zirk, Member

It had been a while. My shoulders were weary. My heart seemed a bit less full. All in all, I was worn. An old sock with the heel fabric growing thin, I was ready. I had been seeking something. I didn’t realize it until I journeyed (yes, journeyed!) to the YWSE SF chapter’s annual retreat.

I am seen.

30 women gathered over a weekend to listen, laugh, exchange stories, and find their inner social entrepreneur. With a full schedule of workshops including everything from visioning our inner wisdom to discovering our personal leadership style, every woman at the Marin Headlands Institute on September 12th and 13th noticed a little something special in herself. Sylvia Warren, MBA enhanced that inherently special quality by allowing us to see each other in a new way. We did not ask how we were doing or feeling, we simply chose to see each other. Our eyes would meet and it was if we could see through to that person’s heart.  Whether or not our hearts were ready to be seen, we felt satisfied that someone had noticed us, that we were acknowledged.

I am a tree.

A pioneer myth is that you must grow something new in a completely new place. However wonderful we might think this new place is; it is subject to its own absent history. Building upon the ideas of others, and learning from each other’s stories is an exchange of information that is as old as time. It remains with us as women, who listened to the stories of our mothers and grandmothers and aunts and sisters, because it brings us a sense of vision. We have enlightened perspective. Dr. Mariam Ghazvini, Ed.D who led a workshop on mentorship, reminded our group of a story that resonated with us: “When trees in a forest burn down, the most fertile place to grow anew is on that burn site. This is because the new tree roots follow the pathways of the old tree roots.” The Design Thinking workshop led by Jacqueline del Castillo and myself (Elizabeth Zirk), two YWSE members, strengthened the idea that there is wisdom in building upon the ideas of others; that we are constant listeners, constantly creating.

I failed.

Chief in our minds as women is self-criticism. The aspect of honesty and trust that our group had for each other over the course of the weekend led us all to a place of laughter and openness. Diane Rachel, from Bay Area Theatre Sports, taught us all to celebrate failure. We stood our ground, faced the open skies with a smile, and embraced our mistakes with a mighty “I Failed!” yell. We giggled as we adventured in pairs through torrential seascapes and wounded limbs. We glowed brightly as we thanked each other for imaginary presents. Our group found that failure is but another chapter in the adventure. If we embrace it with excitement, it becomes just another step towards that next brilliant idea.

This is our time. And I’m with you.

It had been a while. It had only been two days of a retreat, but I felt like I had taken off a layer of myself. I showed myself to the world, in this case 30 women, and realized that I was not alone. The last memory of the retreat for me is one that inspires me to move forward in life. In a circle, we held on to the person next to us and we held on dearly. Not only was it the end of the retreat, but it was the time for being present. This was our time as women, as entrepreneurs, to follow our respective inspired paths. And we would all go on that adventure together. As friends.

About "YWSE's Take On..."

We've heard from many of you that although you sometimes can't join us live for our events, you still want to find a way to be a part of them and keep learning and growing along with us.

"YWSE's Take On..." is a new regular feature of the YWSE website and a benefit of membership.These insightful blog articles follow up each of our events and bring the YWSE  experience home to you. It's a chance to hear from your fellow YWSE members as they share their personal insights from experiencing our events and programs.  Best of all, it's an opportunity for our wider YWSE audience to share in the lessons from our events even if you couldn't join us in person. We hope you enjoy these stories as you get to know more about the amazing women of YWSE.

Comments

[Starla Sireno]

Liz, you have a way with words. Just reading about it gave me a sense of renewal and inspiration.

Well done.

[Kristine]

Beautifully put Liz =) I miss the wonderful energy and spirit of the SF Chapter already! Thanks for welcoming me into your fold for a fabulous Retreat! It helped inspire our LA Chapter to put one together (though a bit smaller in number) for our members this year-end as well.

Much love, light and hugs,

[Elizabeth]

Thanks, Liz. I needed a refresher since it's been a month since the retreat. You provided just that. Glad you captured those moments as they flew by and penciled them down. Thank you.
-Elizabeth