Last week I wanted to be one of the many who composed beautifully crafted lines of text that captured what BlogHer ’10 was. I didn’t care if it was funny or insightful, I just wanted to find my voice in the sea of many who I had shared the event with. I, however, did not. I opened post after post and wrote what was in my head, but each time they were banished to ‘drafts’ because they seemed lacking and to be honest, the more I read written by others the less I felt compelled to write my own. By the time the weekend arrived, I had fairly much decided to let this ‘BlogHer’ recap idea go, until today.
You see, many times throughout the event I found myself referring to everything as ‘overwhelming‘ when in fact, it wasn’t until I returned to my ‘nook in the world‘ that the word I’d been searching for became clear. BlogHer is Humbling.
Humbling to be in a city that never sleeps with so much history and vivacity. A city that is normally busy with tourist and yet amongst the normal churn is a tribe just like me…bloggers.
Humbling to be a part of a group so large and diverse for the purpose of exploring their passion and/or hobby.
Humbling to know that there are people just like me who find solice in this vast space largely secluded, but not private.
Humbling to be among peers, those I admire and have looked forward to meeting one day and those I have only just met by chance.
Humbling to see so much passion, be it a cause or their family/children or their job/hobby. The passion was limitless and inspiring.
Humbling to be surrounded by such creativity. Shared without expectations, it was available to everyone.
Humbling to feel the love. The love as women would ‘squee’ and hug. The love and acceptance in the Serinity. The love when you finally see how vast this conference really is and how much planning/preperation goes into this and you realize this is not just a ‘thing’ that you do or attend but rather an experience to be savored and enjoyed.
For me…I returned home very much humbled by all that I had been apart of and the wonderful people I had met.
4 comments
Comment by Ameena on August 17, 2010 at 12:02 am
NYC is one of the most amazing and yes, humbling cities ever. It sounds like you had a fantastic time!
I would love to attend a conference like this one of these days!
Comment by MommyGeek on August 17, 2010 at 7:37 am
I was so, SO excited to meet you! It was wonderful. You are gorgeous and just as sweet in person as you are online, and that’s a wonderful thing.
I agree, it was humbling. And exciting. Maybe overwhelming, too, a little, while you’re there. But once you get back… the sense of community is very strong for me.
Comment by Tiaras on August 17, 2010 at 12:01 pm
hear hear!
Comment by Di@PowderRoomGraffiti on August 23, 2010 at 3:41 pm
You are absolutely right – it was very humbling – but it was also so overwhelmimg that its taken me ages to come down from the ‘high’ (or is it just jet-lag!). It was really great to meet you – we had a blast didn’t we!