Why I Guide? Balance.

Rebecca Helps
Pathfinder Guider
14+ years in Guiding and came back in 2018 as a Guider in Coquitlam

“I’m liking the way I’m approaching it as a Guider right now. One of the reasons I wasn’t a Guider for a number of years was because of health issues, and I finally feel like I’m back in a place where my health is well enough where I can take it on. I also have a lot of other stuff going on in my life, and I was worried about being overwhelmed and overcommitted with Guiding―either failing because I wasn’t able to do everything I needed to do or just feeling like I wasn’t contributing. But what I’ve decided is to give what I can give and not stress out about what I can’t give. I still need to have my life, and I need to do my stuff. When I’m there with the girls, I’m fully present and committed. And there seems to be that shift in Guiding to find that balance―I appreciate that. What I love about Girl Guides is that it gave me a place to belong as a girl. I’m getting emotional thinking about it because I always struggled to fit in. And even in the Unit as a girl, I struggled to fit in but I still belonged, and that was something I didn’t have in other places in my life. It’s that sisterhood, that spirit! Guiding has always been a place to shine―to find my calling and step into it. Guiding is this opportunity to show up and say, ‘I’m here. Let me at it!’ There are many different ways to support Guiding and be a part of the sisterhood. You can do things that speak to you. Whatever your interests and capabilities are, you can find a way to express it and develop your strengths to the fullest.”