I spent the past weekend at the Killer Tribes conference and it was an absolutely amazing and life reaffirming experience! I had originally thought about sharing specific details and lessons I took away from each speaker, but as I wrote that post, it lacked the heart and emotions I felt so strongly last weekend.

Something was missing.

A New Direction?

An overarching theme from the weekend, and one of the lessons that was often repeated, was vulnerability in your writing.

This really struck a nerve with me intuitively because I was having similar thoughts before going to the conference. Having it repeated to me numerous times during the weekend made me finally surrender and acknowledge that I’ve been writing all wrong.

I need to have more authentic conversations with you, fellow reader. Most of the writing on this blog up until this point has been from an authoritative perspective. That’s not the stance I want to take nor did I set out to speak from that place.

So rather than going on about what specifically I learned this weekend, I’m going to open up to you tremendously about the past month of my life.

It’s scary for me to do this. That’s why I know I have to write this post. It makes me uncomfortable therefore I’m hitting “publish”.

In the interest of being more authentic and sharing with you that I don’t have all the answers, I’m going to start a monthly public review of what has gone well for me along with my struggles.

I’m not perfect and I make mistakes. The process of thinking about what worked and what didn’t work allows me to be more intentional moving forward with my journey, my Warrior’s Path.

I’m right there in the trenches with you, fellow reader. I struggle with what you struggle with and I celebrate the same events you do.

Let’s drop in this together and share what makes us proud and what we’re reluctant to talk about. The act of sharing allows us to process what transpires in our lives so that we can learn and grow from those experiences.

Sharing what I’ve struggled with allows me to “get it out of me.” It is similar to you and I sharing a cup of coffee.

Items on my lists might be contradictory. For example, this month I felt both acceptance of my path while also at a different time this month I questioned where I was heading. So here goes, fellow Warrior, these are the things I’ve struggled with and succeeded with in the month of March.

Struggles of March

• I struggled with my need for connection and being witnessed.
• I experienced bouts of intense anger.
• My meditation and prayer sessions in the morning have not been going well. I have not been able to focus and get into it.
• I wrestled doing what other people want me to do vs. what I want to do.
• I battled with feelings of failure as a person, a dad, an employee, and a blogger.
• I have wrestled with walking my path and dealing with the pain associated with it.
• I grappled with trusting my path and questioning where it’s leading.
• I’ve struggled with not having control of situations.
• I’ve battled to live in the moment and was looking too far in the future.
• I’ve had feelings of apathy and not wanting to do anything (writing, painting, drawing, etc.) and beating myself up about it. Not “doing the work”.
• I wanted answers RIGHT NOW.
• I forgot to breathe.
• I ran out of things to write about for the blog after my 2 week posting every day challenge.
• I got sentimental about the past, “the way things used to be”.
• I wanted to control other people and shake them out of routines that aren’t working for them.
• I experienced feelings of loneliness.
• I struggled with networking with people at Killer Tribes.

Successes of March

• I worked through my personal philosophical dilemmas and got WarriorDave.com on Facebook.
• I conducted and published my first video interview.
• I was interviewed for another site.
• I went to the Art Institute of Chicago.
• I’ve continued with the practice of writing poetry every day.
• I pushed my comfort zone posting to the blog every day for 2 weeks.
• I’ve connected with some great people both online and in real life.
• I’ve been able to keep things in perspective and look at the big picture.
• Peace and acceptance with my path.
• Empowered by the direction my journey is heading.
• I released things from my past that held me back.
• I experienced feelings of invincibility!
• I continued to go to yoga and enjoyed it immensely!
• I connected with and used my voice.
• Immense feelings of gratitude and humility.
• I listened to my intuition.
• I had feelings of inclusion.
• My marathon training has been going well (May 27^th race date is fast approaching!).
• Went out of my way to express gratitude towards someone that was going to be leaving and told them they were appreciated before they left.
• I took time to be silly.
• I was comfortable just being me.
• I got to swing at the park with my kids.
• I spent time hiking in nature.
• I created some pen and ink drawings.
• I shared some personal stories with someone without fear of judgment.
• I was able to reframe a situation away from frustration and into joy.
• I analyzed my needs and understood them before I acted.
• I allowed myself to be open to any and all possibilities.
• I released control over situations in my life. Let come what may.
• Laughing, really laughing.
• I smiled until my cheeks hurt.
• I went to the Killer Tribes Conference.
• Believing that I’m NOT crazy for having a blog or “internet friends”, I’m looking at YOU Daddy-O!
• I met Jeff Goins.
• I met Steve Kamb and shared a beer with him.

So fellow readers, that was my March!

Quite the amazing month and it could not have ended on a better note than with the Killer Tribes conference!

So much good energy, good people, good coffee (Eurasia Cafe, you rock), good conversation, and genuine connection that it was overwhelming at times. I would go again in a heartbeat!

Thanks to all of you who I met (I’m not going to try and name them cause I’ll inevitably forget some)! Thanks for sharing your stories with me and allowing me the space to do the same.

Seriously, THANK YOU!!!

I firmly believe that we will carry the momentum from that amazing weekend forward to continue to put ourselves out there and connect with our tribes and each other.

As we say at the end of yoga, NAMASTE

(meaning the Soul/Light in me acknowledges the Soul/Light in you)

 

 

I would love to hear from you on this post and if it resonated with you.

 

What have you struggled and succeeded with this month?

Please share in the comments or email me, if you’d prefer.

 

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