Prior to starting the Labyrinth Leadership Experience, the participants gathered together virtually through a Facebook group! One of the first comments made on that group related to the feeling amongst the participants that they were pioneers. One quote was, “I feel like we are the first Sigmas going to the moon!” Let’s hear more from Katie Johnstone, Epsilon Eta, on the impact of the Labyrinth on her pioneer spirit.
Traveling inside Tri-Sigma’s labyrinth calls for a
lot of emotions: fear, reassurance, pride, excitement, anxiety, belonging, commitment, and definitely love. The experience demanded character and held the five values: wisdom, power, faith, hope, and love to its core. As defined, “A labyrinth has a series of twists and turns throughout, with only one way out”. The definition of a labyrinth wedged itself between the corners of my mind throughout the journey. Every time I found myself swaying a little off balance, the words echoed back to me and held my thoughts steady.
It’s not enough to say that this experience changed me. There aren’t enough ways to say thank you for something that reaches in and grabs a hold of your heart, and strengthens your passion. During our experience I was thrown into a whirlwind of emotion when our path took us to our final value: love. It was mid-day, with the sun shining in against the purple and white floral curtains of the Mabel Lee Walton house, our homeland. We all stood in an oval; with our hands clasped together as we listened to Kaye Schendel recite our ritual. I could feel the goose bumps run up and down my spine with each word. I closed my eyes, heard the words coming in loud into both my ears and mind. As I looked around, I saw my fellow sisters, Labyrinth participants, National Council, facilitators, all with their hand against their chest, together. The moment came and passed so quickly, even with a savoring for each word.
There is a quote from our labyrinth reading, “Start Something that Matters” by Blake Mycoskie that gives insight to anyone on their own life-long labyrinth: “Rather than let the boat stall, I’d always keep it moving in some direction. A few mistakes will seldom sink the entire ship. You may get a hole in the boat and start taking on water, but you aren’t going to drown. In general, there is virtually no mistake you can make early on that you can’t recover from”. Each day is another twist in our life long journey, our personal labyrinth to conquer, and it is how you conquer that twist that will matter. Were you wise? Did you use your power to help and not harm? Did you instill faith in others? Did you use hope to pay it forward? Did you love unconditionally?
Thank you to the Laura Sweet fund of Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation for choosing me to travel along this Labyrinth. Thank you to our Programming team for your creative and inspirational planning and facilitations. Thank you National Council for welcoming us with open arms home and being so excited to sign my TOMS shoes. I will do my best to light the way through my future path.
The quote from Blake Mycoskie struck a cord with me. I needed to read that. Thank you for sharing your inspirational experience with your sisters.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing this Katie.
It was such a privilege for me to attend the Labyrinth experience with Katie and all of the women selected for this journey. Katie, you are an inspiration to us all and I, too, had goosebumps as we shared our vows with each other. I am so glad that you wrote this so that I can refer to it when remembering our experience.
What an awesome blog post, Katie! I love that I was able to experience the Labyrinth with such an eloquent, amazing and inspiring sister. You inspire me to stay involved with Tri Sigma! I can’t wait to see you and the rest of our Labyrinth class again at Convention next year.