Outdoor leadership
Nature is a broad topic to learn and talk about, but nature is what everyone should know and understand about too. Living in Cambodia lived as Cambodian(Khmer) we all know that Cambodia is a country full of nature, so do you think everyone knows about and understands about nature? I am myself as Cambodian and I still have a lot to learn. Learning doesn’t have the expiry date which means ages doesn’t matter. The early it is the more information you will learn. Learning about nature doesn’t always mean you have to be in the forest. The word “nature” is defining different meaning by different people. Nature to mean things that are not man-made and are the living things that are known as natural to many people but for me not only those but also for many other things such as weather and mostly something that humans can’t control or change.
Climbing up hills or mountains, not taking a bath for days, trekking in the woods and staying, walking together as a group to explore nature is what I have done. It might sound weird even myself feel like it is impossible for me to do those activities above, but I did and by that, I and my friends have to go through many new experiences. Some people consider bad times as bad luck, but to us, bad and good time are all considered as experiences. Staying together as a group was not that hard since we have stayed with each other for years, but that doesn’t it is easy either. Facing many problems don’t make us stop from what we are trying, in the wood, there are many animals that we are scared of, afraid of, however, those animals are nature, the feeling we have toward them is natural and because those animals are nature we have to step out of our comfort zone and learn more about it and the environment surrounded. The weather can’t be control what we should do is to be prepared for times when the weather doesn’t go well and it causes many problems for us like our tents and clothes are wet, but thanks to those moments we’re able to have that experience and learn from those moments. That times I can see myself being a self leader and a problem solver also as a group we have used communication skill too.
Doing something you have never done was one of those uncomfortable things for us, especially when you have to get through something you’re afraid and scared of the most in life. I just want to point out “Dalen E” She is my close and best friend all along the time I know her I know about her biggest fear and that is the animals that are boneless like worm, leeches and more. She never stays any closer to them by 5 to 6 feet meters, but on this trip, we have to get through a lot of leeches and worm. I know it is hard for her and this would give her a really hard time, there are time that she cries and also time that she doesn’t want to stay there any longer, however, I really appreciate her that she can step out of her fear even with tears, but that shows the confidence she has. This is an exploration that I think has taught me a lot to look at myself and other good work and try my best like them too.
My goals for these trips were countless because I want to explore everything I could,but after everything I’ve faced and seen I know my specific goals now the only goal I had all along, but I just didn’t know, however now I understand that I don’t want to just learn about nature, but I want to learn to love nature . The forest, waterfall, was not on my mind if people ask me about the place that gives me peace, but instead, I would think in a room with my device, but things changed me over time after this exploration and now I have learned to love the peace that nature gives to us. I learned to love the waterfall, to love what we have and we all should protect them.
Overall this exploration taught me many things, I have learned about nature, my interest, about other people and importantly I have learned a lot about myself. I think I know myself best, but now I think I have a lot more to learn about myself and who I really am. I know that nothing is enough almost everyone needs improvement. I know I have many things to improve on, but as I know that improvement doesn’t always come by itself and it is not easy, but I have to step out of my comfort zone so that I can improve on what I need to and one of the goals that I have to improve is on my leadership styles and one of those which is designated-leader . I am a person who doesn’t like to control or being told to do something so when we are in a team I never wanted to be a leader who tells other people what to do because I really don’t like it so I feel like if I do it what will other people feel like? However, now I am trying to be one because in a team there always should be one so that the teamwork is stronger and the work gets done better. , but now I started to understand that as a leader, you don’t always tell others what to do,but you are the person who respects other people’s opinions and tries to ask all teammates about their ideas and you are the one who voices your ideas the most and now I wanted to try to become one because it might something news that I like.
Photos & Captions
“I can’t believe I climb those mountains, but I did !!”
“Be like the sun, it set, but it will rise again”