Old Chapters, New Year…Best ME!

Happy New Year!

First, I want to thank you, my dear readers, who have followed me in my inconsistent journey of blogging about the different things in my life. It was such an incredible year, and I have big plans to get more consistent with my blogging schedule here. It’s been quite the week, month, and year, with so many adventures I need to catch you up on.

But before I get into everything, let me finish what I started because that will help you understand where I am.

The Tony Robbins – Unleash The Power Within that I attended and left you hanging with. 😉

This is technically my third UPW; I’ve done one online and now two in person. These events are life-changing; every time I attend, I learn something new about myself and get something life-changing out of it. There is just something about total immersion and being around all these people who are just like you and working on getting to their “next level.”

The first UPW that I was going to attend by myself before COVID, I had planned to get a place with other girls because I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on the place I was staying, and I could make friends with the girls I stayed with.

The drive to Dallas was quick and easy, as easy and fast as 4 hours can be, and before I knew it, I was walking into a condo, meeting 3 out of 6 girls. K, she had rented the Airbnb and brought us all together. O, a girl from Poland who had come in from California. E, a girl from Vegas. There were three other girls that I don’t remember because they were staying in the living room and seemed to be on a completely different schedule than the four girls in the bedroom sharing bunk beds.

The room setup felt like being at a girls’ camp all over again. We chit-chatted and got to know each other a bit while we waited until the last hour of check-in to head over to the event to register.

We girls were at different levels: Diamond, VIP, Executive, and General.

At the check-in line, O and I immediately hit it off and started talking and laughing about everything. She was 23, originally from Poland, and had only been in the U.S. for over three months.

After check-in, E and I walked back to the apartment together, and by the end of the night, all of us girls who were bunking together were friends and talking about how excited we were for the event the next day.

The Airbnb we were staying at had only one bathroom, but surprisingly, we all woke up at different times, so the bathroom schedule never really overlapped. Everyone made their way to the event at their leisure. The event is like a journey you have to experience on your own.

On the morning of the first day, I had to get something from my car, which felt like a divine intervention. When I returned to the apartment, K offered me a ride in her Uber as it was raining. The event was only 5 minutes away, but K was not about getting her hair wet, and I was 100% here for a free ride.

I was so grateful to go with her as she was bold and managed to get us to the front of the security line and into the event in no time. I learned something about being brave in situations like that from that experience. Since we were on different levels, we said goodbye to each other, and each headed into our own sections to experience the events on our own.

Day 1 was phenomenal, and the fire walk prep was as excellent and invigorating as the first time I did it, but a little better as I didn’t burn my feet this time. It could have been the rainy weather, but the experience was different from the first time, just as enlightening in its own way.

By the evening, I was so hungry I decided to walk home alone and not wait for the girls to finish the fire walk. It was probably not the safest, as there were a lot of homeless people camped out right outside our Airbnb. But thankfully, a couple walked home with me, and we chit-chatted about the fire walk and what they experienced during the day. They invited me to the bar they were going to to get food, and I told them I would drop off my book and join them later.

As soon as I got back to the Airbnb, my introvert kicked in, and I made the food I bought for myself and showered before everyone got home. When the girls all got back, we stayed up till 3-4 AM talking about all the adventures we had been on and the dates they were going to be going on the next day. Who knew a Tony Robbins event would be a great place to meet people on the same level as you?

On day two, Tony Robbins didn’t come out, so I used the day to explore Dallas in between the sessions I didn’t want to stay in. It was interesting to see this part of Dallas as while I had been to Dallas quite a bit, I usually went for work and stayed in our office area, so I had never had the opportunity to explore Dallas.

There was a cemetery in the middle of the city on the way to the event that I found extremely weird, but I was greatly amused by it as I do love the peacefulness of a cemetery. By the evening, I found a sushi place to get some dinner and set myself up at the bar to possibly meet some new people.

I met and talked to a couple of interesting people but ended up hanging out with these two guys who ended up having a place nearby, and we decided to go out and explore the nightlife of Dallas. They had told me that they would take an Uber, but once we were outside, for some reason, they were standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus. They had taken the bus before and knew how to get back on it.

As weird as it sounds, I have never been on a bus in Texas. I’m a little embarrassed to say that, but the opportunity to take public transport anywhere in Texas has never really crossed my path. So that night, I did something new that I had never done; I got on a bus with some random strangers I had just met. LOL.

Of course, while on the bus, I had to film a “tube girl” video because how many opportunities like that come my way? And let’s be honest, I’m far from caring what someone thinks of me when I’m out videoing myself like I am an influencer. I definitely noticed a kid in the back of the bus was chuckling and recording me.

The guys ditched me, and I wandered in and out of bars for a couple more hours. Eventually, I got bored, got a hotdog, and called myself an Uber home.

On day three, I got there as early as possible to hear Tony Robbins speak. It was so crowded, there were hardly any seats, and the available ones were terrible, so I ended up standing on the side, which did not make the staff happy, and they kept harassing me to find a seat. After about an hour or so, I ran into O, and we spent the entire day together, getting to know each other, listening to the event, and working on our limiting beliefs.

By the end of the day, O and I were like long-lost friends reconnecting. We got some wine and hung out before her date. She wasn’t sure what she would do after the event in Dallas as she only had her hotel room until Monday. She didn’t have a ticket back to Poland as she wasn’t sure yet what she was doing with her life and was hoping that the UPW event would “enlighten” her on what she was supposed to do. Once she left for her date, I packed all my stuff and headed out the following day.

Day four is all about health, and while I am here for that, Tony Robbins doesn’t come on. I work out and eat healthy already, so I did not think that was the best use of my time. Plus, I didn’t have the day off on Monday and needed to head home. I said goodbye to the girls and made my way back to Dallas. I couldn’t stop thinking about O and what she planned on doing.

When I got home, I immediately asked my life partner how he would feel if I invited my new friend to stay with us for a little bit. I knew her visa was up soon, and I figured we had a big house; why not have a friend over? He agreed, and I texted her, letting her know that if she could find a way to come to Houston, my home office was waiting for her. She agreed and took the train from Dallas to Houston, and by Tuesday, she was living in my home and cooking dinner for me and my family.

My first mentor told me that I would make lifelong friends if I ever went to this event alone. They were not wrong. O and I quickly became the best of friends, and I found someone who was the opposite of me, an extrovert, yet we matched each other’s energy perfectly.

While she was much younger than me, she was wise with a high IQ (she would not stop saying it, lol), and her Gen Z belief in herself was just what I needed to start rubbing off on me and getting me to believe in myself again. Hearing her tell me I could be, do, and have anything I wanted to and show me courage that only a young person could possess was everything I didn’t even know I needed. She was undamaged by the world and ready to take everything on like nothing could hold her back.

I loved it. It was everything my soul had been asking for. I learned from O how to do things “right now” and to stop procrastinating or making excuses. She showed me, by example, how to say my affirmations out loud with passion and enthusiasm. She showed me how blessed I was and how the most minor things, like bougie Stanley water cups, were such a blessing, and she was so grateful for it.

I showed her America; in turn, she reminded me how genuinely BLESSED I was and how abundant my life was. She made me feel my abundance in my current life so much and with so much more passion. I saw my life filled with abundance and blessings, and I relearned how to feel grateful and not just say it because I was supposed to.

She stayed with me for a month and flew out the day before her visa ended. I cried as I dropped her off at the airport, reminded myself how blessed I was to have the opportunity to love someone so much, and assured myself and her that one day we would be reunited.

As I look back on the last couple of months, from Tony Robbins to everything afterward, I can’t help but feel so much gratitude for all the good, bad, and ugly that brought all these circumstances into my life and made everything possible.

I got out of my comfort zone, met new people and friends, and gained a friend for a lifetime. A friend lives in Europe, so now I have an excuse to visit.

This year, 2024, is where I step out of my comfort zone in a more significant way than ever before and where I truly allow myself to embrace my story and speak my truth. I have so much planned for this year and will share many things here, but I wanted to start by finishing this story of my third Unleash the Power Within and how it changed my life. AGAIN!

So far, I’ve joined a content-creating group, and I’m actively posting more on TikTok and Instagram, even though it makes me uncomfortable. I am doing this because I know I must do these things to build the life I truly desire. No more running, no more hiding. Just me, speaking and living the most authentic version of myself.

So stay tuned, my dear readers; I have much to share about myself and my journey… It’s been an adventure of a lifetime, and I cannot wait to own it and share it with the world.

Until next time…

A.A.