Coming Down Inspired
As I write this, we’re barreling west on I-70 National-Park-ing our way back across Utah.
Over the last weeks, we’ve basically ignored work (yikes!), eaten horribly (gasp!) and bustled from pillar to post (tiring!). I mean, one night last weekend we were having champagne and cookies on a gondola and the next we were pretending to be cowboys at a ho-down. Talk about random.
So, zipping around and surviving on about five hours of sleep a night, we’ve combatted heavy eyes, dull headaches and questionable clarity. We’re over it. Oh, and – despite that gondola ride to a mountain-top-event-of-a-lifetime and breathtaking wilderness camping/hiking – we’re really over hanging out at high altitudes.
Although we’re happy to be coming down, we wouldn’t have changed the last weeks for anything. Skimping on work and sleep and healthy food was strangely worth it. We’ve had the chance to dive into the great outdoors, catch up with family/friends and attend a travel conference that showcased events spanning from Denver all the way up to those breath-stealing heights in the Rocky Mountains.
We’re beat but buzzing – ready to take our life and work to the next level.
We make a living helping companies and people with vision become stronger, so it’s important that we practice what we preach. In past posts, we’ve gotten into the importance of knowing your strengths, following your own path and doing what you do well. At our conference last weekend, we were reminded of another important component of personal development. Inspiration.
At the conference, elements of the key speeches and presentations were very inspirational. That’s to be expected. We were reminded, though, that inspiration stems from things beyond the obvious. Here are three things that were reinforced over the weekend:
1) Inspiration can be found in the successes and dreams of everyday people.
A cupcake-fueled Seattle quartet’s huge giving back initiative left us profoundly moved to lean even further into our own altruistic endeavors, and a trio of vacationing gals astounded us with their knowledge and success. We were further influenced by couples: living a travel dream, building an unstoppable brand, formulating a plan, finding a new approach to traveling and pursuing a new business even when the landscape presents hefty challenges. We reconnected with a friend whose dream is now bigger than she ever envisioned, met a person who is well on her way to a huge life and two others reinventing herself/himself to pursue new passions. We marveled at a Las Vegas fanatic’s boundless blogging success and were impressed by a Canadian on the lam’s sanity-retaining business plan.
2) Inspiration can be found in the ordinary
Over the weekend, we embraced many new (and even silly) things in order to shake up our brains. We joked around a lot. We’ll never have Ben’s signature pose, Jodi’s unique perspective, Kirsten’s photography skills or Abby’s ability to orchestrate getting a photo from the most flattering angle (check out Caanan delivering major “broken down doll” realness), but we like to learn more about ourselves from dabbling in friends’ worlds. Others fueled our: obsession with Mexican food, addiction to music, love of theater, appreciation for Portland and our counterculture tendencies.
3) Inspiration is a spark NOT an answer
Thankfully, we get to continue the conversation with attendees who also base themselves in Seattle. We’ll have drinks on the deck (wink, wink) with a neighbor, happy hour with a new friend, brunch with our favorite cartographers and a picture do-over with our pal Beth (shall we meet at the post office?).
Seeking inspiration – meeting new people, trying out different ideas, putting yourself out there in order to grow – can be transformative. But it’s also a slippery slope. Inspiration is most effective when you are able to use it to better understand who you are and where you are meant to head in life. Unfortunately, instead of using inspiration as a catalyst for introspection, some people try to duplicate the inspiration or inspirer. Inspiration that produces a spark in you should serve as a guide post – not a detailed set of directions.
The key is to – every once in a while – get out of your routine and submit your brain to things it doesn’t know it doesn’t know. Leaning into change and newness helps all of us to better know ourselves and, thus, move ahead on the path to enduring fulfillment.
The most important thing we can each do in life is to, each day, get closer and closer to being the person we’re meant to be. Thanks to all of the conference attendees who inspired us to make big leaps toward that goal!
I love your take on all the bloggers you met! And loved hanging out with you guys even more. Miss you already!
Thanks, Ben. We started missing you about 5 minutes after we dropped you off at the get together at the luxury condo in the woods (so that we could go and do a load of laundry at midnight!).
Love you guys, great round up of TBEX Travel Bloggers. It was so great to meet you in person and have you be just as amazing in person as you are on your blog. Keep inspiring, laughing and loving! Big hugs to you from Dave and Deb
Thanks, Double D! FINALLY we met in person. Only wish we could have had the chance to talk further. Let’s make it happen.
What a great roundup guys! And geeking out on musical theatre with you two and Bobby of V3 is one of my great memories from TBEX. Keep being awesome!
Today I tried Bobby’s suggestion of Defying Gravity at the gym. It was a bridge too far, even for me.
Such a great takeaway and an important message. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Emily. The conference really was invigorating for us.
It was so great to finally meet you two – even if we had to head half way across the country to do it.
I really like this: “Inspiration that produces a spark in you should serve as a guide post – not a detailed set of directions.”
I want to find inspiration that helps me be the best ME, not a carbon copy of someone else. And that means there’s no magic pill to take or thing to do that gets me to the place I want to be. I constantly need that reminder that my path is not someone else’s path – no matter how inspiring, motivating, or educational it might be.
Let’s get together in Seattle soon!
We’re still chuckling that we finally met…. in DENVER of all places.
Glad you liked the message, MJ. It’s a good reminder for all of us because when you see someone’s success, gravity pulls you toward duplicating it – which is rarely, if ever, fulfilling.
I love that message!! (Spark is great, hard work is necessary.) And our photo lol. I still giggle thinking about your waiter at SW… Canaan looks SO uncomfortable in your first cowboy pic — so glad you ran a second one! Look at Kirsten go! I need a full tutorial from her. And Jodi and Ben are new favs — yay tbex!!
Were Erica and Raymond brave taking that picture on those unstable benches, or what!
Oh, and do you ever take a bad picture
It’s cool how you guys found inspiration from so many sources. I’m inspired by how inspired you are
I haven’t had a chance to fully unwind and reflect on everything, but I came out of the event feeling energized with an optimistic outlook for the future of my site and our industry in general. It was a lot of fun connecting in person with fine folks like yourselves.
Hey, Scott! Meeting you was one of the highlights of our conference. Wish we would have had more time to talk all things music… and Alaska… and quirky. Let’s cross paths again.
I came out of this conference feeling energized and grateful that I met some awesome folks like you two. You’re right about inspiration — it’ll set you on the right path, but the weeding is up to you.
Thanks, Raymond. So glad we had several opportunities to connect. We’ll be watching your next moves closely
“…every once in a while – get out of your routine and submit your brain to things it doesn’t know it doesn’t know.” Poignant message, indeed. Kudos!
Thanks, Maria!
From what I have read all over the net & y’all TVEX12 was amazing. Im so jealous… I not only wanna meet so many other bloggers but I would love to hear all the meetings and energizing, inspirational things y’all heard. Y’all are already very inspirational so I can’t imagine what yall do next to surpass that.
We have to raise the bar, don’t we
You would have loved the conference. Lots of fascinating peeps and an incredible variety of events and sessions. And that mountain setting was incredible. That is when the altitude wasn’t headache inducing. Of course we wish you would have been there for the ho-down. I think you would have felt right at home
Whatever. It looks like the conference was totally lame and you had an awful time. Really.
(Not jealous AT ALL.)
I know… we look miserable in those pics, don’t we. Maybe we’ll see you over the next months. Two guys can dream, can’t they?
Bwahaha, that’s totally what I thought. All those people laughing and having fun? TOTALLY STAGED. These other awesome travel bloggers you supposedly met? THEY’RE PROBABLY NOT EVEN REAL.
What, jealousy? I don’t know what you mean, I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT.
I am SO glad we got to meet!
I think our “special” silly photos were definitely the best, though.
And how about those top blogger bags?
Love youuuu.
Just you wait, that photo is coming up in a future post about illegal activities at TBEX. Or maybe a “what to do with $1 and a National Parks pass” post. I kid!
Seriously, Amanda… loved the laughs we shared with you. And those gift bags = to die for.
I didn’t know you guys were going to TBEX, just another reason I regret not going.
It was ALMOST as fun as that night in Rome. Remember, we’ll always have Rome Ayngelina
Looks like I better get myself to one of these conference-thingermajiggers next year, once I’m free from my contract!
We’re pretty biased but REALLY think you should!
Your photo with Abby sooo made me laugh. I wish I had been there to see that! I didn’t think it was possible to love you guys more than I did, but after I met you, it’s impossible not to.
You know Abby and her ability to direct a photo taker (to near death heightss in order to get the best photo).
It was great to meet you IRL. Our short talks were among our favorites. Not surprising.
It was fabulous meeting you both! Love the recap and the photos. Fun, fun, fun!
Thanks, Beth – great to meet you, K and J!
It was fun to meet you both, lover and lover-of-lover
Wish we could have spent more time together. You should have stayed at the party!
What ended up going on at that party? I feel like we missed a good one.
I love you guys so so much!!
Hey thanks, D! How’s the road trip treating you?
Ali and I did TBEX last year, TBU this year and planning on TBU again. Going to the conferences are a lot of fun and give some good direction. But as mentioned, it is just a direction (an inspiration), there is still work to walk in that direction.
I am very much the person that thrives on ideas and inspirations and finds the implementation more difficult. I have been working on discipline for those ideas lately. I love the headline on your third point “Inspiration is a spark not an answer.”.
TBEX Europe promises to be incredible. Are you considering it as well?
Like Andy said, we went to TBU this April and we’re going again in September. Not only are these conferences great for meeting people, but you can’t beat the inspiration and the great information and things to learn. It is sometimes hard to take that inspiration and run with it, but I keep trying to push myself. I hate that I still haven’t met you guys, but our paths are bound to cross one of these days!
Oh, they will cross for sure (and we can’t wait!).
I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again, you two are are inspiration. Chris and I are so blessed that you (sometimes) live in Seattle. Brunch, and lots of it, soon! Everybody say “looove”. <- Got that from B.Rock.
Yes… Everybody say LOVE.
It was so great to finally meet you guys and hang out. So bummed that I had to leave early and we couldn’t hang out more and talk on Sunday. It was too short of a weekend for me but I tried to make the most of it (I slept a total of 12 hours in 3 days). Hopefully we will get a chance to hang out and talk more soon but I loved meeting and connecting with people at TBEX. With all that goes on during these travel conferences, that is still one of the highlights of the weekend.
More time next time!