When I heard about the race I don’t think that I thought too deeply about community with 50 people and how that would look. In fact I had no idea how that would look. Thankfully God has blessed me with a very low-key team that understands my extreme introvert and even embraces it instead of trying to make me an extrovert. I do not charge my life battery by being around people. I need to charge it up alone. There are probably more extroverts that intros on the race or maybe its just my squad….who knows. God has really been teaching me that it is not bad to be an introvert and that he created me this way for a reason. So I have learned to find a rooftop or a trail or a quiet spot for my hammock. Sometime it has even been staying behind while my team has a weekend getaway or choosing to not go into town with them. There have been mornings that I choose to not have time alone and I just dive into ministry and trust me, a whole day of ministry and being around people only leaves me drained at the end of the day. Then I am shut down for dinner and team time. (Our daily team meeting time) NOT GOOD! So here are some of the things that I have learned as I enter into month 4 of my race.
1. Bring more than one pair of headphones- You will not always be able to just go into town to grab a pair when your one pair breaks or gets lost. Trust me! I am so glad that I brought more than one pair. Now don’t go crazy and fill your pack with them but bring 2 or 3. Your key to alone time is plugging in sometimes.
2. Find your “spot” — This month it is a rock, last month it was my hammock, and the month before it was the basement no one wanted to be in. Just find the place that works best for you where the whole world isn’t and use that place as your recharge spot. You also might want to be flexible in this. You wont always be alone in your spot but you can at least have a spot.
3.Give grace— As you are learning all about yourself and about others give yourself and give them some grace. You might have a bad day and so might your teammate. So let them know how you operate and as you discover new things let them know.
4.Be flexible— Sometimes with 50 people around (no joke) your spot could get swooped on. Yup so get flexible now and let it go when one of your squad mates is chill in in your spot. They need alone time too.
5.Don’t get comfortable— I know that sometimes things are less chaotic when your iPod is going but sometimes you need to take those buds out your ears and talk to your team. I have missed so many conversations because I just like to be alone.
