This time last year..
The Ace Hotel - Downtown LA
A lot can happen in 12 months, and how funny is 2020? (Ok so plenty of us haven’t been laughing THAT much)! But it’s been both very hectic and gone super quickly and also at time has made us feel like we are walking through quicksand in slow motion. It’s brought new challenges, good and bad, but none of us could have predicted it. It’s really hitting me this week because this time last year, I did something I cannot fathom right now, I made a decision to buy a plane ticket a week out from the women in podcasting conference ‘WERKIT’ and I went to LA, alone.
Now, considering for the past few months the furthest I have ventured has been 5km from home, the idea of going to another country, and one so troubled with Covid and bushfires right now, is down right bizarre. And having spent, (as so many of us have) months of intense time with my family, I actually can’t believe I did it alone, I’ve barely been to the bathroom alone this year!
But challenging myself to do something really scary paid off for me on so many levels, and looking back 12 months on I can see the changes that came about. Firstly, confidence.
Confidence to travel to another country, stay in downtown LA, (safely) go to a conference not knowing another soul, meeting women from all over the US, and one very well respected Australian Podcast guru in Rachel Corbett !
Making conference buddies, getting VO work in the US for the first time, with Voxmedia, spending time alone in restaurants, making decisions for myself, and learning so much about podcasting and being inspired by so many creative women.
Oh and I forgot I met Beth Orton in a taco joint and she gave me free tickets to her show that night! Only in downtown LA right?
So as I look through my phone at the photos (mostly selfies) from those 4 crazy days, and think about how spontaneity seems a thing of the past and how much the world has moved on since then, I just feel grateful, and remember the motto I came up with for myself a while back… ‘you always have memories of the things you did, not the things you didn’t do!’
