Entrada Professionals Weekend

Posted by Katelyn Bevard on November 20, 2014

Katelyn BeVardWhen you’re tasked with hosting an event and spend hours preparing for it and making sure it goes off without a hitch it’s easy to forget why you were doing it in the first place. I can often be guilty of focusing too much on the details and erring on the side of perfection. During our event I sat around a warm fire surrounded by professionals of the industry in the middle of the Nevada desert. In this moment our Health and Wellness Coordinator invited the group to practice mindfulness as we enjoyed a well-prepared meal of beans and rice. It was the first time in over a month where I actively took time to slow down and enjoy the present moment. I was reminded WHY I was there and how powerful the wilderness can be. I was overwhelmed with the amount of contentment and gratitude surrounding me.

Group shot

Second Nature Entrada hosted six wonderful professionals for a weekend retreat, filled with networking, sharing ideas and experiencing the wilderness. After visiting a young adult group we made our way to our own retreat camp. It was a night of firsts for some; first time building a shelter, first time creating fire with a bow drill set, first time cooking beans and rice in the woods, first time playing Mandatory Fun Time (MFT), first time sleeping under a starry sky.

As we ate dinner, Brad Reedy reflected on the dichotomy between the meal we were currently enjoying and the meal from the night before at a local restaurant in St. George. We shared a few laughs and mostly a large amount of appreciation for the fact that we all would have preferred the current meal to the fancy one from the night before. The wilderness has a way of facilitating togetherness and an appreciation for the little things. Each person sitting around the fire shared his or her gratitude for the experiences we had together. We went from being a group of mostly strangers to a close-knit community over night.

In the aftermath of the event some have described it as “perfect” and admittedly it did feel that way. But, in the end I realized it would have been perfect no matter how many details were paid attention to. When you stop to welcome the little things, practice gratitude, and appreciate your surroundings throughout each moment of the day, the details don’t seem to matter as much. When you believe in WHY you are doing something it doesn’t matter HOW it happens because the details will fall into place naturally.

I think I can speak for the whole group when I say we all left the weekend with a greater appreciation for the work we all do and an appreciation for the power of the wilderness. We left with new friends, new ideas and new excitement for our industry and our work. Thank you to all of our wonderful professionals and Second Nature Entrada staff who joined us. We hope to do it again very soon!

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