The One Where I Learned To Thrive

This past weekend was spent at Thrive Blog Conference  learning and growing and surrounded by bloggers who totally get the whole oversharing with strangers on the internet. It was amazing to spend the day networking and soaking up some social media knowledge and hugging the necks of ladies I love but never get to see. 

I came home feeling refreshed and motivated but perhaps not in the way I had planned. You see, when I set off for the conference I was bound and determined to learn how to grow our Instagram and dominate Pinterest (which is laughable considering they are ALWAYS changing their algorithm) but Thrive became very different the second Alissa took the stage. She spoke on how to find your voice, and how to find balance and how to pursue your passion. 

I think it’s safe to say that all bloggers at some point or another find it challenging to find a balance in wanting to be successful while remaining authentic. All while juggling jobs, family and friends. It can get overwhelming REAL quick. 

During Alissa’s talk she had each of us write down something that holds us back from our goals.

The word I wrote down? MYSELF. 

 I, ME, am my biggest road block. I second guess myself all the time and think “they don’t want to hear that” or “somebody else would do it better”. I let numbers define my success and I stress myself out over the silliest of things. 

The fact of the matter is though that people do want to hear from me. Hello, YOU are those people. Weather it is 5 million of you or 50, my story matters to someone. And there is no way that somebody could do it better because who better to tell my story than me? 

Alissa’s words really resonated with me…and as I wrote my name on a sheet of paper and then tore up said paper in a symbolic gesture, I think I released myself from the lie I have been telling myself the last two years. The lie that I am not good enough. 

See, I was really feeling this talk

I am enough. We all are. The world wide web is a BIG BIG place and I think once Alissa spoke some truth into my life I started looking around the room at Thrive and seeing the ladies there in a whole new way. They no longer were my competition. They weren’t prettier than me, or better than me, or more successful than me. They were just women, who like me wanted to make a difference with their words and use their talents that God had blessed them with. 

And just like I have my own insecurities each of the women there had their own. Their own words that they wrote on their paper and tore up. Words that keep them from reaching their potential by making them believe that they are not enough either. And they totally are. Weather they have 2 monthly page views or 2 million every woman in that room has a story to tell and share. They have a passion and goal and my prayer is that they all took Alissa’s words to heart, and that they too ripped up that lie and left it on the table at Thrive. 

We are enough ladies.

We are amazingly awesome GIRL BOSSES and we have stories to share. And each of those stories matter. We were born to Thrive and I hope we remember that as we venture into the next year before we all meet back next year. 

Lauren, Miranda, Sarah, Taylor, Jessica, ME

*HUGE shout out to the amazing Meg Hawley for the amazing photos she snapped this weekend*