The 3 Times I Cried at Alt Summit

Y'all. I cried more than once at Alt. I wasn't sad or overwhelmed, I was happy. I felt so full and inspired. I felt thankful to be meeting so many wonderful people. I felt grateful to even be there, the timing of it all was so perfect (more on that later). Anyway, here are a few moments I was moved to (happy!) tears.

1. I walked away from a conversation with Jenny Komenda inspired and invincible. I stood in the back of the room, happy tears streaming down my cheeks, texting my husband and my Mom hoping no one would see. Luckily, my friend, Joy, did come up to me and we laughed about the tears coming from my eyes. Thank you, Joy! You saved me from sure embarassement!

2. As the lunchtime keynotes were beginning, I walked into a room full of 500 creative women. The movement of the room, the chatter, and the laughter really hit me. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and I had to choke back tears. And the speakers, Chris Anderson on Thursday and Stefan Sagmeister on Friday. Both of these men were fabulous speakers, inspiring us to make and to risk, respectively.

3. The Things I'm Afraid To Tell You session on Saturday morning. What a great session. I hadn't actually planned on going to this class (on authenticity and honesty in blogging), but I'm glad I changed my mind at the last minute. There was some real, honest, thought-provoking conversation and something that Brooke White said really hit me. We all talked about difficult experiences and how we dealt and what we shared on our blogs. Brooke mentioned stopping by the beach to clear her head during times like this. She said that as the waves came in and faded out, it felt like a perfect illustration of our lives. That God guides us, giving and taking away, and we often don't understand. Sometimes life rushes in, fast and furious and great, and sometimes what we think we want in life slips away - right through our fingers like the frothy, salty water of the ocean. And part of life is learning how to appreciate all of that - the rushing in and the fading away. And all the growth that happens in between. Talk about poignant. Wow.

Images by Brooke Dennis & Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit

PS - I'll be back later today with my favorite business cards!