Moving on…It felt like an apt title for this post since this is video #99, and I am aiming for 100. It is right around the corner, so I’ve had to think long and hard about if I want to continue creating videos or if I need to move on to something else. I’ll elaborate more on that in my 100th video, but for now suffice it to say, I’ll have to slow down a little bit, but not entirely. It isn’t just nearing home plate of my Promoting Passion video series that has me thinking about this topic. It is also the end of the year and start of a new one, as well as a couple memorable moments I’ve had in recent times.

One big thing that happening was that I had my work critiqued at a portfolio review. I’ve never done anything like that before and have never truly had the chance for someone to give me honest and raw feedback about what I do. I went in with almost no expectations and no questions. I was very simply: curious. I had a couple glowing reviews and a couple not so glowing reviews, and one downright bad review. And as we are prone to doing, I focused on the one that hurt the most. At least for a little while. I let it drag me down for a day. I let it really get to me. I let it infiltrate my usual standard of happy and confident. And that was when I decided I had to make a commitment to move on.

I took advice from that review that is invaluable to me. I am applying it to my new 2016 business model (oh yes, I have a 2016 business model. watch out.). But I can’t dwell on it unnecessarily. I think it takes a well trained person to do away with hurtful negativity. That review was filled with both – the hurtful kind and the helpful kind, and it isn’t up to the person giving the review to only give one type or the other. It was that person’s honesty, and my problem. And so we must move on.

I thought about all of the ways we must move on from our lives to create better ones. And these are the 5 ways I’m doing it.

1. Move on from your failures and your accomplishments. Accomplishments lose their value when repeated too often, and failure is never the way you want to come to define yourself.
2. Move on from the person you used to be. Stagnation does not announce itself when it walks into the room. It creeps up on you until you have no idea how to get out.
3. Move on from the idea of perfection. I would rather start a project than never start at all out of fear of imperfection. I would rather finish a project and learn something than never finish at all.
4. Move on from criticism. It exists to teach you a lesson. Take that lesson and leave the rest behind. We cannot carry the weight of it without being slowed down.
5. Move on from what is safe. By the end of a year I have a pretty good idea of what made me feel safest and what made me feel most afraid, and it is in evaluating those moments that makes me realize when I feel most alive. Chase your adventure.

I thought I’d share this outtake from my Iceland adventure today to illustrate what moving on is for me. It is letting go of fears and anxieties and doing something that you might not want to do. It is falling into your natural flow and rhythm to experience all of life’s greatest moments. It is doing, not waiting to do. This image isn’t perfect. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. But I did it, and that is the greatest accomplishment for me. It is the person I want to be, not who I used to be.

I hope you’ll share with me one thing you are moving on from in your life. It helps to know others are taking steps toward a new self.

All of these things make me bubble with excitement. But then there is one thing that weighs heavily on my mind, and that is a change that I’m quite sad about. I can see the silver lining, and I’ll be posting about why later this year, but for now, I want to speak about the darker side.

My very first convention that I ever spoke at was After Dark. I was invited into the family with open arms and was allowed to be completely myself, no matter what. Ever since then I’ve been an advocate of what they do there, and am proud to say that I have become a part of that process and team. I feel so loved when I attend. I try to love on as many people as possible. It is one big lovely love fest.

But at the end of March, the last After Dark will take place. It is like seeing a part of my heart wash away, but at the same time, I know that things must change. If it weren’t for the extreme kindness of the family of After Dark, especially Dave Junion, I might not have found my voice. I knew that I had something to say, but I didn’t know where to say it. AD has become my home away from home, and I will miss it terribly.

I think that we all have something like that in our lives, be it a person or a place or a thing…something that makes us feel accepted, or welcomed, or just like we can be ourselves. That is After Dark to me, and even though it won’t live on past this final convention, I will take what I have gained from it and apply it to everything that I do. I will move forward with a passionate intensity that makes me feel good about being myself. I will spread the love that I learned there to everyone in my path. And I will make sure that AD doesn’t ever fully go away, as I know so many people will do, because we will take what we learned and allow that to guide us in the future.

I sincerely hope that you’ll join me for this last After Dark. I will be giving it my all when I’m there. I’m not going to be fancy. I’m not going to do backflips and tricks (except that one levitation class…). I’m just going to teach from my soul and give all that I can.

THE CONTEST:

Dave said that I could give away a free pass to After Dark running from March 30-April 2 in St. Louis, MO. If you would like to join us, please leave a comment with one paragraph about how you think that this experience will help your future. We’ll be picking one winner to join us!

Deadline is February 16th at 11PM PST.

Do you have something in your life like this? Something that makes you feel like you are okay to be yourself? A person, place, thing? Please do share, I love knowing what is near and dear to your heart.