A WDS 2014 Story: The Tale of Three Braves
A couple of weeks ago I attended my second World Domination Summit (WDS) in Portland, Oregon. Last year I volunteered and found a way to start dreaming again - it truly blew me away and helped me to find the path I've been working towards for the past year. It's a powerful event filled with thousands of powerfully supportive people and it just doesn't get much better than that.
This year I set a goal for the weekend; to step up and be brave.
So here it is, my tale of three braves inspired by WDS 2014.
The Little Brave
About two weeks prior to the Summit, I received an e-mail from WDS Magician asking me if I would be up for going on the main stage to help lead a sing along for the entire audience.
I'm not a singer. I don't do karaoke. I said yes.
When I arrived and got in line for the Great Namaste, an attempt (a successful one!) to break the world record for the longest yoga chain, I was asked if I'd like to go on stage for the event.
I've done yoga one other time in my life. I said yes.
I saw a post in a Facebook group for a making of a WDS "Happy" video.
I showed up, danced, and now it's on the interwebs.
I thought I was being brave, doing all those things. As it turns out, these were just "little" braves for me.
The Medium Brave
That was until Gary Hirsh got on stage and asked us;
"What's one brave thing you want to do ... but haven't?"
Then he gave us all custom Brave Bots and my eyes became waterfalls.
When Gary asked that question, one thing immediately came to mind and it had nothing to do with getting on stage to do something which would push me out of my comfort zone. With my Brave Bot in hand, the concept of being brave grew into something much larger.
Large enough that it's pushed me to make a change which has been coming for about a year now because frankly, it didn't seem all that brave anymore.
I consider this my "medium" brave.
Dropping the Gluten Free Travelette name is nerve wrecking to say the least - but it's hasn't been a good fit for me for over a year now. I could have come up with some catchy travel title or name, but I want to build something which lasts. For me, that's going by my first and middle names and simply describing what it is I do. I've always loved my middle name, especially since I share it with my amazingly talented mom. In fact, she even had the foresight to buy this domain for me many years ago.
With my Brave Bot in hand, the decision to make this change (and several others in the pipeline) get a whole lot easier when I think about my real BIG brave.
The BIG Brave
I'm not exaggerating when I say that after my eyes started welling up - they didn't stop for the next couple of days. The "BIG" brave that came to my mind immediately after being handed my Brave Bot scares the heck out of me. It's not something I'm ready to put out here on the web - but I'm making all my decisions with it in mind and I see it every time I look at my Brave Bot.
BIG brave, I'm coming for you as fast as I can - while wearing my WDS super hero cape of course.
All photos in this post courtesy of Armosa Studios. Check out more photos from WDS here.