World Domination Summit Post-Game

18 days to 50. I came to WDS this year excited and apprehensive. Last year I came by myself and was forced to step way outside my comfort zone and interact with all kinds of people. This was terrifying and exhilarating.

This year I brought a friend so I knew I had a safe space to land in the sea of, "Hello, my name is Laura, what brought you to WDS?" and the unnerving, "So, Laura, what huge changes do you plan on making in your life to make the world a better place?" I talked to a lot of people. Yes, people who want to quit their jobs to sail around the world, but also people who are just struggling trying to discover their true selves, finding the jewels within themselves that are uniquely theirs so that they can figure out the best ways to use themselves to serve others.

The best thing about WDS is that almost everyone is positive. Certainly, the world has many challenges right now, but mainly people want to be optimistic about the future. They want to believe that 3,000 of us really can go out and make an impact on our world. Some will do huge things. Some might just change a little piece of their own communities, but I know that all 3,000 attendees left wanting to do SOMETHING. The cumulative impact of this conference surely could be world changing.

The hardest part about a conference like this, especially at my age, is that I felt like everyone I spoke to was looking at me for answers. I was certainly not the oldest attendee there but I could see younger people looking up to me expecting me to have it all together, to have some big plan of how I will affect world domination in the future based on my vast life experience.

The thing is, I don't feel like I'm much closer to having all the answers than any of them. I came out of this conference inspired by the speakers we saw and all the stories I heard from the people I connected with but I don't feel like I'm much closer to knowing what or how I can use the skills I have now to be of service in a more powerful way.

I flew back this morning with a serious WDS hangover. I kept looking at people next to me in the airport hopefully thinking I could just strike up a conversation since it was the norm all weekend. Out in the real world, of course, people avert their eyes, start fiddling with their phones, or even get engrossed in reading the nutritional information on the orange juice bottle at Starbucks.

I left my car at my friends' house in Burbank not realizing that street cleaning started at 8 am on that side of the street. I came back to this note on my car. Some kind stranger in the neighborhood posted a note on my car so the police wouldn't give me a ticket. I have no idea who did this. So now I am cautiously optimistic again. People are good. The world is filled with hope and opportunity. I will take the time, I will do the work, to find my own truth and share this with the world. This is my current plan for World Domination.

World Domination Summit Day 2

19 days to 50.

WDS was incredible this year. Last year there were 1,000 attendees, this year that tripled to 3,000 attendees. This made it more difficult to make deeper connections with people. I still connected with a lot of people I wouldn't ordinarily have met, but last year I kept running into the same people to strengthen that connection, with 3,000 people this year that was pretty much impossible.

Gretchen Rubin was the keynote speaker in the morning. I've read her books and was really looking forward to her speech. She spoke a lot about truth. The most important thing is to discover the truth of who you are. Not what you hope to be or what you wish to be, but who you really are. Be yourself. Admit what you love. She is working on a new book and talked a lot about points from that book but I loved her focus on truth. Admitting your truth is really the first step in any transformation.

Two other speakers really made an impression on me today. The first was Tess Vigeland, a well known journalist from NPR who quit her fantastic dream job in the middle of her life without a back-up plan. I was captivated by her honesty about fear and her confusion and how it feels to go from being a powerful popular celebrity to a woman of a certain age struggling to figure out her next step. I heard from her the same thing I hear from a lot of people- that when it gets more painful NOT to change than it does to change- that is when people are forced to take action, even if that action leads to discomfort. My favorite quote from her-

Give yourself time to grieve when you leave.

Our performer this year was Steve Schalchlin. He is a musician who was literally dying of AIDS in the eighties when he miraculously won a drug lottery to get access to an experimental drug. It literally saved him from death. He has written a musical that has been playing in London. The Portland Gay Men's Chorus joined him on stage to run through some of his songs. The whole theater was in tears. It was inspiring and achingly beautiful.

For some reason I left the conference in a bit of a funk. Last year I had a hotel room downtown to retreat to every once in awhile to take a break and recharge, this year I was non-stop engaged with other people and I think it was too much for me. Gary and I took a break for a couple glasses of wine before the big dance party and that helped center me. We made the tail end of the Bollywood dance party (so much fun) and stayed for a little of the Eighties dance party. After spending 3 days together in non-stop workshops and seminars it is amazing to see everyone let their hair down and have fun. I bet the last time most of those people really let loose and had that much fun (myself included) was too too long ago.

I booked my ticket for next year on the train ride back across the bridge . Can't wait.

World Domination Summit Day 1

20 days to 50. World Domination Summit Day 1

The most impactful moment from today was when they brought up WDS attendees to tell their stories. One of the speakers was a woman who decided at 61 years of age to to take a gap year with her husband. Her quote:

Uncertainty doesn't decrease as you age, it increases.

This was so inspiring to me. We always expect people older than ourselves to be totally confident and to have it all together. It's so fantastic that this woman is still, like me, figuring it out as she goes along.

I sat next to another woman on the flight to Portland. She was in her mid fifties. She and her husband both used to write for the LA Times until the newspaper cut half their staff. Suddenly unemployed in the middle of their lives, she and her husband packed up their young son and moved to Vietnam for 2 years to teach English. She spoke with love in her eyes about the country and her experiences there. She told me not to worry about Fifty. Fifty is a piece if cake.

I'm optimistic and hopeful about turning fifty in a way I haven't been before. I'm so grateful I took this opportunity and came to WDS this year. I'm inspired and humbled.

World Domination Summit 2013 Pre-Game

23 days to 50. On my way to Portland for the third World Domination Summit. It's a conference of people who are willing and eager to change the world. A year and a half ago several projects I funded on Kickstarter mentioned WDS several times. I went online and looked it up and instantly felt called to attend. Last year the 1,000 tickets sold out in a matter of minutes but they allowed ticket transfers until a weekend in May. I got an e-mail from the founder a few days before the ticket transfer deadline and somehow found myself on Twitter (shudder, TWITTER?) sending messages to people I didn't know looking for tickets.

I found a girl in Canada selling a ticket and was so obsessed I did a google search for her, found her personal blog, and e-mailed her that way. She was astonished that I found her and after a brief discussion to prove I was worthy, I sent a PayPal payment into the ethers and crossed my fingers hoping she and her ticket were legitimate.

I booked a flight and a hotel, summoned all my courage and went. On the flight up to Portland I sat in the same row as a very hip young woman. I knew she was going to WDS because she was hand stamping her business cards with rubber stamps the entire flight. I didn't find the courage to speak to her until we had landed. She and her friend were also staying at the Ace Hotel and they offered to travel with me on the train.

I was full of trepidation and feelings of worthiness. I knew the conference would be full of hipsters and here I was a middle aged woman flying across the country to crash their party. I wasn't sure my Tom's (shoes and sunglasses) would be enough to gain me access to this elusive community.

I was dead wrong. Everyone in the conference I encountered went out of their way to make everyone else feel honored and heard and appreciated. At the end of the first day I walked outside the theater and approached a group of a few people and just asked if I could go to dinner with them. They said, "Sure, we'd love the company." So I went to dinner with half a dozen total strangers. We laughed, we ate pizza, we drank beer and had a great time.

I pretty much did the same thing all weekend. I never just approach people like that so I was way outside my comfort zone but it was magical. Just to be in a room with a thousand other people who think like I do that the world is troubled but beautiful and we owe it to ourselves to do something to change it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

The last night we had a Bollywood dance party and I actually spent HOURS on the dance floor. Me. Hours on a dance floor. I wasn't worried about who was watching me or how I looked or whether or not I looked cool or fashionable or together. I somehow got to the place where I felt I was allowed just to be myself.

I booked my ticket (and a ticket for my partner in the non-profit) before I left Portland last year.

I left with a tremendous amount of hope and optimism. I had big plans for the past year. Some of them panned out, some of them didn't, but there has certainly been change.

This year there are 3,000 people coming. That seems like a daunting number for me but isn't it incredible that there are 3,000 people in the world who fought for a chance to come together this weekend to talk about the things that are important to us.

I'm excited to make new connections this year. I am excited to once again step outside my comfort zone. I am excited to be with my tribe all weekend. To be with a community where I am not an outsider, but an insider. An insider in the I-WILL-make-the-world-a-better-place movement.

It isn't about how old I am or how old they are, it's about what we all mutually want to accomplish. I'm excited to feel like I'm home.