Out of all the chaos that the novel coronavirus has raged in our world, there has been some good. Last week I had the privilege of attending a conference that I otherwise never would have been able to “be at” if they hadn’t moved it online via Zoom. That conference was the Making Things Happen Conference, led by the effervescent Lara Casey of Cultivate What Matters. Essentially, this is a two-day goal setting workshop that forces attendants to really look deep into who they are to help them find what they want and see what matters most.

If you know me, you know that I am not a touchy-feely kind of gal. I care and I love and I am an empath to the ninth degree, but open discussions about the goo inside myself, well, that’s usually a negatory.

But this conference, it was everything I needed.

I could gush for days about all I learned, but I have condensed it into five main ideas:

1.) I AM HOLDING MYSELF BACK

Maybe less holding myself back, but mores holding myself in. I have over the last five or six years really developed quite the shell. I don’t like having a harder exterior, but there’s been some things in my life that I feel have made me create a suit of armor to protect my heart and my feelings. While I don’t think that’s necessarily the worst thing, it’s not reflective of how I feel I am.

2.) I DO STRUGGLE WITH GOALS

It is more than a to-do list. It should be more like factoring—where goals have branches that serve as steps to fulfillment. Arbitrary check-offs might make us feel accomplished, but they aren’t going to help us drive the needle. Having a to-do list without an end product in mind is kind of like riding a pedal bike at a lower speed—yeah, you’re moving faster, but you’re get anywhere faster. I want to refine my goal game now more than ever. Making Things Happen made this clear, and provided the tools to make it happen in the form of Cultivate What Matters’s PowerSheets.

3.) I MISS WRITING FOR MYSELF

I was legitimately that girl in middle school who had four notebooks and was writing ALL THE TIME. Stories, thoughts, poems, all the things. I miss it. I used to pride myself on my mastery of the written word, and I feel like I have done that little girl a huge injustice and took away her voice. She’s going to get it back!

4.) I NEED TO SEEK INSIGHT OUTSIDE MY INDUSTRIES I spend so much of my time talking to other photographers—which is fine, I love my friends! I want to align myself with others as well. I now crave perspectives from other artists and creative entrepreneurs to understand how they have come to their why. Making Things Happen allowed me to network in a new way, and I want to keep that up.

5.) I NEED TO JUMP FAR OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE

I feel I’ve accomplished a good amount in my life of 37 years. I don’t really have any regrets. However, everything I have done has been pretty much inside my comfort zone. I haven’t taken any major leaps of faith—and the ones I have weren’t really leaps, but rather moments where I had nothing left to lose. MTH made me really wonder what it would look like if not only stepped, but took a running leap outside of my comfort zone. How would life look then? Stay tuned as I find out.

If this sounds like a conference you would enjoy or you would just simply like to learn more, please visit the Cultivate Crew online to see how you could grow more good things in your life. 

Kayla Lee is a Minnesota-based wedding and elopement photographer. She provides services to elegant, authentic, sentimental couples who not only choose their own adventures, but also live them to the fullest! See more about the KLP Wedding Experience!

Fridays are for high fives! Every Friday, stop by to see five of my favorite somethings! Click here to see past Friday High Fives!