MTH Atlanta, May 3, 2012

If you've followed my blog the past few months you'll know that I decided to make 2012 my year. I really want it to be OUR YEAR, as in mine and each and every one of you. I'm laughing at those of you rolling your eyes because motivational speech is so lame and positivity seems dumb. I'm laughing because I am so frequently the same way. So if it comforts you sarcastic and cynical folk, I'm one of you (although I'm quickly dissolving the negative parts of that personality).
 
I entered the scholarship contest for the Making Things Happen intensive, fully expecting that I'd only go if I won (nothing to lose!), and I didn't win. But I signed up anyway. The reason is that deciding to make 2012 my year meant that unlike resolutions, I couldn't let my counter argument excuses come into play. Not every year will have the luxury of saying yes to positives, but even without actually creating the rule, I was insistent upon going to WPPI, doing the Making Brands Happen webinar series (one more to go!), taking the challenge, starting a local girls group to encourage each other, attending the Go Outside workshop, and as soon as the opportunity came up, doing Making things Happen in Atlanta.

Knowing that tomorrow would be too late, how could you waste today? This was a choice to let all the rest of my days be better because I made the decision to put in the work for this one. To freak out a little bit about the money it would cost but do it anyway because I'm investing in all the rest of that time I have left.

I'd read some previous attendees' blogposts that urged if you are considering it to just do it anyway. That in itself was not enough reason for me (someone who is prone to rationalizing for or against anything several times a day). So if you are reading this and aren't sure if you should go on a Making Things Happen intensive, here are my personal feelings:


You should go if...


-You have trouble sticking to resolutions and you feel like that lack of willpower is the thing keeping you from accomplishing big things.


-You don't know where to start


-You need someone to push you off that ledge and into the lake.


-You read self-help books but never put the self-help into practice


-You are afraid to take the next step. To quit your day job to pursue your passion, to start a new routine, to put yourself out there, to open up. If you are ruled by fear, then MTH is for you.


-If you are just going through the motions. If every day feels like a chore much like the day before it. If you want to get out of this rut. If you want to fill the rest of your days with joy.


-If you are a constant dreamer that never finally wakes up from those amazing dreams, gets out of bed and lives them.

I can't really say that I knew what to expect at all. I didn't get that far in my thought process. I knew it would be a positive. I tweeted the day before that I knew the rest of my life would be different afterwards but I didn't even know what that meant when I wrote it. I felt like even though I wasn't giving the experience that much credit beforehand, even though I was underestimating how much it would do (probably for fear that I was wasting money), I still knew it was going to come back and blow me away.

I tend to be wary of seeing movies or reading books that everyone raves about because it builds up my expectations so much that I tend to over-analyze and be disappointed or I'll get frustrated if I don't love it too. I think that might be why on the inside I didn't get my hopes up too much. I pretended this was a big business conference where I was going to become some rockstar on the business side but I didn't allow myself to think about how it might affect change in Kelly.

I've never been to group therapy, but if it was like MTH I'd want to go all the time. I was there in a room full of girls, all but two I'd never met, listening to their fears, their dreams, their struggles and successes. Looking people in the eye to tell them, to be accountable to them, that I was going to take advantage of the rest of this life, to live it to the fullest, to stop ignoring the obstacles I'd placed in my way.

I think one of the best realizations from MTH, the thing that makes it different than all of the other motivational workshops and books and life changing events...is that while you are there you talk about and think about the fact this doesn't happen overnight. I was not suddenly a brand new me. It was figuring out the little steps I could take to become that person I want to be and not beating yourself up over sticking to it.

The Challenge has been such a huge part of that success in me. Since I started the challenge, I try to do my downloads every night before I go to bed, which is stress relieving rather than a burden. I haven't been 100% on all of the rest of it but that's okay, because if I don't let it get me down on a day when I don't run I'm less likely to just give up and start back at zero like I usually do.  Sometimes action steps overwhelm me because I'm prone to making tasks too big, but I'm getting things done. I'm killing distractions (don't ask me whether I saw something on facebook anymore, because most likely I haven't), leechblock is keeping me off of my biggest timewasters, I'm setting myself up for success by setting out clothes for the next day and sleeping in running clothes. I'm leaving my laptop at home for my husband to use so that I won't "multi-task" on two computers (when one of the two usually ends up on pinterest or facebook anyway), and I'm putting the laptop away at home before Garrett gets home so that he won't start to think I'm a glowing white apple rather than a human.

I feel renewed. To feel this way five days later is impressive. Yesterday I printed out a template for things that fire me up and I'm keeping it on my desk. Why don't we spend time doing the things we really like? I've decided that I don't like TV. I feel gross when I just sit and watch old episodes of King of Queens or Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond and I don't really have any shows I keep up with anymore. I want a clean house, an uncluttered mind, time to read, and time to sit outside in the summer and as soon as we can buy one, grill out. Those things sound lovely and reasonable.

Here's to making things happen, saying yes to the good things in life, encouraging my fellow MTHers, being a better wife, encouraging women in my hometown, crafting my perfect day, removing toxicity from my life, and feeling the fear but doing it anyway.

If you want some of this goodness, start with the challenge. And ask all my friends, if you need a push I will keep you accountable. I'll text you, email you, call you and ask if you're downloading because I want this happiness for myself and I want it for you too! One of my things that fires me up (see above) is inspiring/encouraging other people, so let me help you! :) Today is the day. You don't have time not to start today.