So Camp Mighty was a week ago. And there have already been so many wonderful memories and observations and learnings captured by some of the coolest women I’ve ever met – I can’t wait to read more. Every day over the past week I’ve thought about my experience at Camp Mighty and what I want to say about it. But I’ve been slow to make the transition from brain and journal to blog. With each day that passed, I caught myself slipping back into old and less-than-useful thoughts about creativity, self-discipline and drive. Very un-mighty.

And while Camp Mighty is built around the life list, for me its significance is less about the specific items on the list and more about saying them out loud, sharing them, and discovering not only a community of people who want to help you, but how many ways you can help. It’s about taking yourself seriously.

So here are two of the most important things I am remembering from Camp Mighty:

Our opinions of ourselves are not fact.

Maggie Mason’s talk to open the festivities was full of wisdom, and like Sheri Silver of Donuts, Dresses & Dirt, I felt like she was talking directly to me. To tell the truth, I was really excited to finally be at Camp Mighty but I was also amazed that I’d actually decided to come. By the end of the first day, it was clear to me that I had been telling myself a story about being stuck, about not knowing what I want to do with my life, about not having something to say, about not being able to play on the same field with the true Camp Mighty-ites. These are women whose blogs I’ve been reading, whose photos I’ve admired, whose creativity has inspired me. And here I am sitting in the same room with them.

I got up early on Day 2 and wrote the following in my journal:

“I know a lot more and have a lot more to offer than I have been giving myself credit for. I’m ready to some stuff.”

Makers Gonna Make – Jude Landry