Fearless Fridays: How to take care of yourself after a kick ass conference
Ok, this has been a BIG OLD WEEK. I'm not really sure what's going on with the stars and moons and such but here's a quick rundown of what I've experienced (and no, PMS has not been involved):
1. This week I've had incredibly productive periods of time that generated massive content and tapped huge creative energy.
2. Two fantastic days with the women at Savor the Success' Women Entrepreneurs Rock the World event in NYC. Holy freaking moly. Angela Jia Kim brought it like no other with a line up of women (and a few men) who gave entertaining actionable content to us women entrepreneurs. I ate it up.
3. Being in NYC. The people. The energy. Fantabulous. I love it.
4. Meeting amazing women entrepreneurs like Anna Sabino of Lucid New York jewelry & Jennifer Urezzio of Know Soul's Language, hanging with my fave super publicist Amanda Littlejohn. Women like this inspire me. Universe, bring me more please.
5. Interestingly enough, I also had some short bouts of extreme insecurity & fear. Eeeeeew. Didn't feel good. Took me off my game. Shocked me, actually. And made me go, "WTF?" How can the high highs also be accompanied by such low lows? So, I wanted to dig into what was going on!
I think any time you go to a big ol conference, you get a ton of juice swirling. Here's how I navigate it.
1. When you get a whole bunch of new information, it takes time to process and integrate.
For me, I typically go through a phase of "I want to do ALLLLLLL this new stuff that I've just learned about. Right now.
And my soul knows what my ego then feels: that, um, that's not really feasible. Or even desirable. Basically, the discomfort is a sign to SLOW YOUR ROLL sister.
While I do believe in massive and sweeping sea changes, I also think that most positive change happens incrementally because it allows all of us (the physical, emotional, spiritual) to catch up with one another.
The lesson? It doesn't all have to happen right now. Whew. That's good.
Which brings me to the next concept...
2. Comparison is a killer.
Being in a room full of amazing-ness invites comparison.
Like, "DAY-um she is rocking some amazing shoes!"
(With the internal inference being "perhaps mine aren't as great."
Or, "Wow, her business seems so together/farther along/more profitable/insert useless comparison here that makes you feel bad and does nothing to change your current state."
Yep, I think that while it is super inspiring to be around powerful, go get em women, we also tend to compare ourselves to the women we see around us. At conferences like RTW, where everyone rocks, it is important to own your power.
Today my friend Katie posted on FB: "Um, this is awkward, but I'm awesome." I LOVE that she is owning it. Out loud. In writing. In front of many.
I wish we owned it more often, because the comparison piece is useless. If anything, let it point to your desires (who/what are you comparing yourself to? is there something about her style/business/life that you might want to incorporate into yours?)
When you start to do that comparison thing, use it as a data point to enhance and explore what you're already up to. And remember that you rock too.
3. Energy is all over the place.
At any event where you've got a lot of people together, there will be tons of swirling energy. Most of it great. Some of it not. I find that after such events I am completely bushed. In fact, I slept a lot of yesterday.
When you step into someone's icky energy (get slimed) then it can take a moment to shake it off...but that's what we have to do after such things. We have to re-ground, nourish our bodies and our spirits, and perhaps tend to our families/loved ones before we get back to the doing of our busy lives.
Women on the Savor boards were posting about how they were going to integrate and ground post-conference. Make sure you visit Savor if you want to get in on the convo!
4. The fortune is in the follow up.
I just want to say that I have been to umpteen conferences at this point. And typically no one actually follows up who I give my (very expensive and lovely) biz cards to. How sad is that? I will admit, too, that there was a time when I didn't follow up either.
Here's what I'm noticing works: set up a time to chat. It is not so you can convert that person to a client, but it's so that you can learn about her and know what makes her tick, what she needs, and how you can serve her.
Yesterday, for example, I had a chat with this amazing woman Marla Tabaka. We actually were connected via an email loop, so we've never met in the flesh. Our half hour chat was personal, some professional, and very fun! She got value, I got value (she's going to guest blog on the LifeShifted site- heck yeah!), and we became friends!
The point is, most people never take that follow up step. So DO IT. Even if it means you have thirty phone calls in the next month. Do it. You never know what might happen...
Also, it's ALMOST Monday! (My fave day of the week. Sorry Wednesday.) If you would like to receive my inaugural TGIM message to turn your Mondays into magic, sign up here!
LOVIES, L
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