One month ago, this week, I drove my happy ass up to Nashville, TN.
It was time for the second annual Launch Out Conference.
I spoke at the event last year, and in a years time the brand tripled in size. In fact, the response was so awesome after its second event, that there are plans to offer three conferences throughout the US in 2016; spring in Atlanta, summer in St. Louis, and fall in southern California. The conference is the brainchild of Randy Langley from “Dreamers and Builders”, formally knows as the “The Start Experiment” an online community which I joined two years ago.
These people have become near and dear to me.
Some I’ve grown closer to, than acquaintances I’ve known in real life for years. All of them are supportive, encouraging, and eager to help the entire community in whatever ways they can. Amongst other divinely inspired moments, my joining what we affectionately refer to as a cult (yes, that is tongue in cheek, like many things I write), has been one of the most powerful moments of my life.
In spite of the impact they have made in my life, I wasn’t feeling gloriously excited for the trip north.
In fact, about a week beforehand, I said that very thing to a close friend. I wasn’t dreading it, I wasn’t worried, I just didn’t feel that delicious anticipation that others were happily exclaiming in the Launch Out Facebook group. I’d pop in from time to time and see a post with a countdown till June 26, someone had created a bingo card to cross off those launchers they were able to meet in person, and details of the event trickled in from Randy Langley and the event coordinators periodically. And still, I wasn’t amped up like I usually am. I knew that once I arrived, I’d have a splendid time. I chalked it up to the unglamorous nine hours in the car, with nothing but my mind to keep me company.
Nashville is one of those cities I’ve fallen in love with in recent years.
The energy and vibe it radiates creep up on you and seep into your veins in the most delicate, yet obvious of ways. It, and Portland, Oregon are two cities that I felt quite at home in as soon as I set foot in the city limits.
But this isn’t a story about the conference.
This is a story about the lesson found amongst the moments of that weekend.
In case you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t blogged since the end of March. Yeah, I know. I’m still alive, nothing is drastically wrong, and I haven’t gotten locked out of the website.
I just stopped. I took a break.
I don’t fully know why, but I can make some assumptions based on what I know about myself after 33 years.
I had some things going on in my personal life that were a surprise and I wasn’t prepared for them.
That, in and of itself is enough, but that coupled with revamping the brand, website, and blog in December, I wasn’t fully prepared or rather, didn’t have, the discipline or wisdom to know how to juggle it all. So writing was sacrificed. That’s one scenario. Another possibility is that I tend to work in cycles. There are seasons of balls to the wall, heavy hitting. And then I retreat to my den like my spirit animal, the polar bear, requires for extreme self care and hibernation. And maybe its more a hybrid of the two.
[bctt tweet=”Truth always lives a more complex life than we initially can see.” username=””]Since the brand is an extension of meeeee, it makes sense for it to shift and ebb and flow, because guess what… PEOPLE GROW AND CHANGE! I guess part of me felt like it was easier to hide rather than be transparent about those times.
I’m crawling out of the cave now.
One paw in front of the other.
Stepping slowly and deliberately.
Smelling the air as it whips around my face.
Listening to the sounds in the city and the silence of the night.
Thank you for bearing with me.
Yes, pun intended, bwahahahaha. Ohhh, I had to slip a bad joke in there. They defuse some of the intensity I find myself in. 🙂
But seriously, I appreciate your sticking with me and not giving me shit for doing what I felt I needed to do for my own sanity. You treat me well. Gracias mi amigos! I can only hope to do the same for you.
Now, back to the weekend in Nashville.
(Read the second installment HERE)
