Conferences are always a whirlwind of a weekend. Full of possibilities, connections, and the up down emotions of overconfidence and massive self doubt.

Draining. Inspiring.

I am tucking my feet under me after a fabulous Blogwest conference in Edmonton.  It was cold, very cold for this poor coastal girl, but beautiful with clear blue skies and snow on the ground.

And cold, did I say it was cold? It was jean freezing cold.

Still with a fresh brain full of cluttered ideas, I am going to share with you the ones that keep leaping to the front.  There will be more later, but for now, these are the glaring takeaways.

I am old 

This isn’t a bad thing, so don’t freak out, but I am old. I get that. I am out of diapers and baby food, I am not interested in talking or even writing about those types of things. Thinking I was still a parent of young kids was wrong. My kids are no longer babies, and honestly, I was probably out of this stage when I had my third child anyway, I just didn’t admit it.  I am old. The good on this? I am into different things, and I like that. And I imagine there is a whole new world of menopause products out there just around the corner, beckoning me.

Writing is good.
I feel a change coming on the blogosphere, a time when bloggers will be writers. The valuing of creative words and content is the norm and not the new thing. The age of storytelling, returning to our lives and landing happily in our inbox every morning. The people who are starting to blog are people who are doing it because they love to write, and from this,  the vulnerable and honest stories will become more common. I liken it to current blogs being the commercial breaks in your favorite show, with the new blogs, actually being your favorite show (the content). There may still be the odd product placement, or you will start to get more passive information about what your favorite characters use to wash their face in the morning, but the purpose will be storytelling.

It is scary to be you.
I am over being someone else (this is probably due to the first point above) I am just me. I have faced a lot of fears and made that uncomfortable place of risk and opportunity my zone to hang. My non-comfort zone hangout. But, there are still a million and one people who aren’t there, and I remember how scary it is to think that you may not be enough, or you may not have a place in this space. The truth, we all have the opportunity to be amazing, in fact, we owe it to ourselves and the people around us to be our very best. And yes, by being amazing and courageous you will inspire others to try to be their very best.

There is still a lot to learn
Pinterest, wordpress plugins, photography, social sharing analysis. Eek, there is so much out there to learn and so many amazing people doing amazing things (hint, I have hyperlinked them above, so check them out!)

It can be overwhelming to think how much you don’t know about the industry you are in. It can be deflating to stand beside these experts and see that you just don’t measure up.
Except when it is ok that you don’t.
I walked away in awe of these amazingly talented people, but also with a greater understanding of where my strengths lie. I will continue to focus on what I do best and take others tips for improvement and see if I can climb one step on some of these ladders of learning.

But I won’t fret about it.

My skills reach the people I want to communicate with, at least I think they do. And I will nurture and feed these relationships, because these people inspired me with their magic and maybe a little bit of their brilliant dust will land on me.

I met some awesome, awesome people this weekend. Some new, some for the second, or third time. Some of them you already know, but there are others who are just emerging.  If there is one person you should check out it is My Dirt.  I look forward to saying  “ I knew you when”

I am always grateful for learning, but I am even more grateful for the relationships that get built at events like this.  The one on one conversations, being able to look in someone’s eyes, hear the tone of their words and see their body language. To understand where their words on the page come from, the heart and soul and mind that inspires them.

Because skills aside, that is why we are doing this. Isn’t it? To connect. To inspire. To build our community.

That’s why I am here . . . how about you?

And last, but not least.  I learned that coming home is magic. Absolute magic.