Women’s Wilderness Weekend at the Burton Homestead in Nevada City

Lately, I have really started evaluating my life, life choices and how I choose to live my life.

I realize I give a lot of myself away to all the people around me. Giving of myself is a joyful experience and an expression of who I am and I love to give to all those around me. However, it also has a draining effect on me as well.

For so long, I have, in a way, prided myself on the ability to continue to give of myself and not take time to replenish my energy supply or to take minimal time to just bring myself back to functional. Taking time for myself felt selfish. I would continue to give to all those around me and pretend I didn’t also need anything.

Refill your pond!

Recently someone gave me a great analogy that our life is like a pond. It provides life to the plants and animals around and in it.  As we give, the water goes down. if we do not refill the water in the pond, we end up having nothing left to give but the mud at the bottom of the pond. I realized my refusal to take care of my inner desires and spiritual well-being has left me giving away “mud” to all those I care about.

This weekend I refilled my pond at the Women’s Wilderness Weekend at the Burton Homestead in Nevada City put on by 4 Elements. Normally, I would feel so guilty about spending money, and time away from my family that I wouldn’t even tell my family I wanted to go and just silently wish to myself that I could. This time I recognized the need for “refilling” in my life and asked “how can we make this happen?” My husband was so supportive and loving. He even took the kids to visit grandparents so I could have the whole weekend to myself.

We were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Nevada County as our outdoor classroom. We learned emergency/survival skills like how to make a debris shelter, how to start a fire with a bow drill, plant identification, food foraging, water purification and so much more. We also took time to really get connected with our intuition and nature as well as get in touch with our playful side by playing games together. It was such a magical time connecting with other women and learning and playing together.

Now that I am back to work and life has resumed as normal, I feel so energized and ready to take on so much more. No longer do I feel there is pride in depriving myself of my needs. I am a better person when my pond is full! And I delight in being able to be more present for my family, and to give more and better service and care to my clients buying and selling real estate in Nevada County.