This past weekend, in the mountains of Colorado, I lived my best, most supreme life for two whole days. And it was beyond glorious.

I mentioned in a previous post that my ultimate goal was to create an artists’ colony where people could gather in community and create. I also mentioned that conceiving and organizing a buddy retreat and virtual summit for my business mentorship peers was the first step along that journey, and here I am. Just a few months later, I did it! 

For the past six months or so, I’ve been a member of the Blue Sky mentorship program, which is all about developing your business. Up to this point, my business has been editing books. However, I’m now branching beyond that, with taking a leadership role in my peer group and creating this buddy retreat. This is something new that I conceived of after our last official retreat, and through months of planning (and stressing), it actually came to fruition.

How cool is that??

It wasn’t a large turnout, but it didn’t need to be. In fact, I think the amount of people involved was perfectly right for what we achieved that weekend. Three of us traveled to the mountains of Colorado to the vacation home of one of our mentorship members, in beautiful Winter Park, and eight of us or so connected on Zoom (a Skype alternative) for group training several hours a day over two days. 

For the first go-round of this kind of thing, it was nice to have a small group to work with. We each were able to share and participate as we learned from each other.

All who were there in person or virtually also taught a session to the rest of us, based on one’s particular skill set that was applicable to the growth of a business. One person taught about self-care and the need for it in our lives—and, no, self-care isn’t just about doing what you want to at the moment. It’s about long-term health and wellness, which includes a good diet, exercise, journaling, etc. Making the time to really care for yourself. 

Another taught about feeding our “energy garden” and time-blocking to really get the most out of the best hours of your day. We had several people do meditations and visualizations about our greatest goals and how to get there, and still others provided concrete trainings on the LinkedIn platform.

I personally did a workshop on “Fear of the First Page,” since we’re all writing as part of our businesses: creating marketing copy, blog posts, giving talks and presentations, etc. Writing down something for the first time can be daunting, and not only because we feel the need to be perfect (which nothing we write ever will be). Sometimes, our own vulnerability gets in our way, and we’re scared to reveal ourselves on the page. So, I took our group through several exercises meant to help overcome this fear.

The fascinating thing was, even for the people calling in from distant time zones, there was a sense of connection among us that was palpable. We all felt it, giving to each other in the form of teachings and time, and we all engaged with it. That connection and community was so special that we agreed to make a virtual Zoom summit happen again, in about six weeks’ time. We created a special little place for ourselves where everyone had a voice, everyone held space—and it was beyond beautiful.

I can’t quite express how very awesome that feels.

Creating connections like this is something I’d like to do going forward, not just sitting alone in my room editing books. 

I want to inspire.

I want to motivate.

I want to bring people together and create something real.

Above all, I want to embrace this new version of myself and see what kind of positive change I can make in the world. Everything I am is about expression and getting my and other people’s stories out to others, and I’m exploring different ways of doing that. 

What steps have you taken towards your ultimate goals? How have these goals changed over time? Share in the comments below!