I just came back from my big adventure in Nepal; the Manaslu Trekking. On my relax and recover day I heard that I was fully responsible for the freelance training programme. Very exciting challenge, I mean I knew I was going to play some part of it but apparently I was the person to set it up and then coordinate the day together with Suraj. One little detail, the training was on the 23d of December, in other words; I had one week to prepare… no pressure hahaha.

My self-confidence and enthusiasm won from anxiety and the next morning back in the office I started preparing, in the afternoon I discussed my ideas with Suraj. Be the change you want to see in the world motivated me to prepare impeccably.  I finalized the script in the next two day and voila; ready for Monday, my first freelance training.

To give you some context, MyQuest Foundation exists of three core members; Suraj, Asmita and Shrai. Next to these core members, they work with a group of freelance-coaches who are there to support the team on QuestTreks and during QuestTribes. In order to keep the whole team connected and to support them in their own development as a coach, MyQuest Foundation frequently organises training days. These days are filled with workshops on various subject that benefit the coaches and their role in the foundation. And this time I was invited to share some of my subjects I thought would inspire the coaches and provide new insights.

I’m eager to learn myself and I’m committed to broaden my sources of information and ‘wisdom’. So far, I’m very happy with the creative consciousness trainings I have done in 2012/2013 as my main ‘source’ for my coaching experience. Now that I can add the QuestTrek to my personal development I was able to combine both trainings and share some insights and observations. One of those was the check-in both trainings entail. The importance of context creation and completion are also incorporated in both programmes. However, in the QuestTrek I felt that this is more implicitly done, and I wished to make the coaches aware of the importance and power of these subjects. Then there was the subject of impeccability, a word some did not know yet. The QuestTrek is very powerful because it uses the nature, the mountains, untouched by humans. This environment is balanced, impressive, open and perfect for creation, there is space. I would call it impeccable. Unfortunately, this impeccable environment does not appear everywhere by itself, it takes attention and awareness to create an environment filled with nothing but space, balance and no distractions that cost energy. A final subject I shared with the team was about the power of the word. When I make a commitment, I’m very careful in choosing my words. I feel the difference between trying and doing and I will choose the power of doing when I commit. Awareness of the power of the word can create the difference in bringing across a message and empowering the youth fully. We ended the training with a speed-coaching session, one of my favourites; 5 minutes to coach someone to results 😊.

I was nervous before the training because at home I’m used to a clear distinction between the teacher/trainer and the student. In MyQuest Foundation they do not want this distinction. We are all here to learn from each other and in the schools the hierarchy of teacher and student is so strict that they do not want this environment in the programme. To deal with this nervousness I took the stand that I was here to learn with the coaches and together gain new insights. We made the training interactive with questions and small assignments. Working together with Suraj we created a fun and inspiring day.

Everyone enjoyed the day and although not everything was new to the team they shared that they found new ways to integrate the knowledge in their lives and coaching practices. I enjoyed it to, being again reminded that this is where my passion lies. We had a little Christmas party with a cake and pizza.