{"id":27975,"date":"2023-09-28T22:27:47","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T02:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mentordiscoverinspire.org\/?p=27975"},"modified":"2023-09-30T15:56:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T19:56:22","slug":"walking-through-the-mud-no-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mentordiscoverinspire.org\/walking-through-the-mud-no-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Through the Mud, No Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rich O’Keeffe
MDI Contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EDITOR’S NOTE: <\/strong> Those of us who didn’t attend the annual Burning Man event over Labor Day 2023 may have observed on TV and social media the potential travesty that was 70,000 stranded humans left to die in the ever-expanding mud. Yet, according to at least one man who was present – MDI member and long-time leader Rich O’Keeffe – it was no biggy. Showing once more how someone else’s “barrier” could be another man’s mud pie. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the annual Burning Man event happened. You probably heard a lot about it from the media. News headlines read \u201cThousands STRANDED at Burning Man\u201d or \u201cSo and so celebrities had to be rescued from Burning Man disaster\u201d or the like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth of the matter was a lot different than the media portrayed it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As some of you know, I have gone to Burning Man a couple of times including this year. This is not an article about Buning Man \u2013 if you want to find out about it, there are thousands of sources easily available on the Internet. Here is my reality around what turned out to be simple weather “issues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As background, I previously wrote an article for the magazine about “comebacks.” https:\/\/www.mentordiscoverinspire.org\/no-comeback-needed-when-embracing-the-moment\/<\/a> My background philosophy remains the same \u2013 there is no “comeback” required when embracing the moment. In my case, I just accepted that there wasn\u2019t a thing I could do about the weather. I hunkered down in my tent and rode it out. Managed to get messages out to the folks who needed to know that I might be stuck for a few days. Did the needful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of it though, a fuckton of fun and enjoyment was there to be had \u2013 all I had to do was embrace that moment. Hell, there were people creating mud art that was pretty awesome. My camp had an epic party on Sunday night that ended at sunrise on Monday morning \u2013 complete with a suite of super talented DJ\u2019s. Almost everyone who just embraced the moment, hunkered down and accepted things had a wonderful experience. Rain and all. In a lot of ways, the weather mess, and being forced to sit tight in my tent with my sweetie, made the Burn the best one I have attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n