Hikers in the Woods - an 8th Light Tale

This story was shared with me by my mentor, Kelly, a few days before I started my first day as an apprentice.

An apprenticeship is like two hikers in the woods… Imagine you are hiking down a forested trail with your apprentice. Imagine yourself walking beside the apprentice, not out in front. All of a sudden, you stop. Your apprentice stops with you. You both stand in silence. The apprentice is confused, wondering why you’ve stopped. Then all of a sudden, a deer crashes out of the forest, onto the trail right in front of you, then scurries off the other direction.

After the deer is gone, you explain to your apprentice what you saw and heard that alerted you to the deer’s presence. You show the footprints, the scat, and encourage the apprentice to keep an eye out.

Next imagine you come to a fork in the trail. You are familiar with these woods, you know that one trail leads you back home, and the other add 5 miles to your trip. A teacher would pull out a map, show the apprentice your current location, and show which trail to take. But you are not a teacher, you are a mentor. Instead you ask the apprentice to decide. “Which way should we go?” Then if the apprentice asks for a map, you provide the map. If the apprentice takes off down the longer path, you continue to walk along beside them.

Imagine your apprentice chose the long way. When you manage to get where you are going, you raise the question. “I wonder where that other path went.” Then you might pull out the map and show the apprentice how to read it. Not only will the apprentice have gained some knowledge, but they also have 5 extra mile of weariness where the lesson “Check your map at every crossroads” really sets in.

Through the entire day’s hike, you’ve kept the apprentice safe. You’ve always know exactly where you were and how to get back home. You could at any moment, taken charge and avoided any danger.