Do you do things outside your comfort zone? You know, different to your usual habits? I do. Less than I used to, but still fairly often.
For example, over the weekend I was at the Problogger conference. Before going, I was nervous. I mean, I enjoy writing on this blog, but I don’t think of myself as a ‘blogger’. My label is naturopath, thankyou VERY much.
However. I do enjoy writing and super-enjoy engaging with people about health, food, herbs… and life more generally. I love getting the word out there about being yourself, living well, finding balance… all that stuff. I also dig seeing what other folk are doing with this topic. It gives me a real kick.
Several months ago I was talking about this very thing with our dear pal Misho (photographer, traveler, book-writer and all-round good guy). He told me that I needed to get myself to Problogger, where I could be inspired by and learn from some of the online best.
So I did. Verdict: am glad!
I met a wide range of lovely and interesting people, all of whom were friendly and up for a chat (something you don’t always find at health conferences). I went to talks on creating nice looking online spaces, how to manage the back-end of a site (something I grapple with) and how to connect better with both individuals and communities. I was inspired by people who are doing life-changing community work and was challenged to articulate my dreams by several people, including Mr Problogger himself, Darren Rowse. I also fell in love with Clare Bowditch, who spoke to / sang with the crowd twice over the two days… I now have a full blown girl-crush (she is MEGA rad).
Imitating those around me, I attempted to engage in the lift selfie revolution:
FAIL. I will leave it to the experts.
And, as the conference was on the Gold Coast this year, I also made sure to get in an early morning ocean swim before the day began. Such bliss!
Honestly not as cold as this picture makes it look
All up, I had a wonderful time at Problogger, an event I would have assumed “not for me” had I not been encouraged to attend by a trusted friend. It just goes to show that there are many ways we can expand our knowledge and many fields outside our ‘own’ that can help us grow.
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Did you have any great experiences or big learnings this weekend? Were you at Problogger and if so, why didn’t we meet!?