We sat on the front porch and more than occasionally swatted at some over zealous mosquitos. An amber flame popped & cracked and settled in for the night in the new bronze rubbed fire pit in front of us, and in round table turns we tried our hand at s'more making. I took note of who went for the golden brown toast and who preferred chargrilled. And in the smokey night air, somewhere between the graham crackers and the chocolate bars, the conversation took a turn... toward the brutally honest.
We sat semi-circle at one of our Walk Through workshops earlier this year in June, and the attendees fired off questions one by one. Yes, we blog every wedding. No, we really won't take every couple that comes to us if we don't think it's a good fit. Yes, there are people in the industry who will betray you. We let this last thought hang in the air, as marshmallows of smoke warily crept closer and tapped it on the shoulder. And somewhere in the silence that followed, a question came that I don't think we were ever prepared for.
This is all well and good and all. And I know it comes really easy for you guys now. But tell us more about when you were first getting started and you actually had to work for it. Because what's really going to help us, what we really need, is more of that honesty.
I sat stunned in the darkness. Felt the sting on my cheek and the flush of red to match it. And as a rush of answers flooded my brain, I realized that in the end only one mattered.
It isn't easy for us now.
For every amazing thing that might look like it just fell in our laps, there are months of being told no and slamming ourselves up against the brick walls that hold us back over and over again until they finally fall down...preceding it. There is nothing that we have built that hasn't been built by our our own hands. And make no mistake about it, we get up and we fight for it every single day. And we'll keep on fighting still.
And if you want it, really, really want it....my suggestion is that you fight too.
In the quiet as I caught my breath, he looked at me dead on and he thanked me for using the F-word. He thanked me for admitting that we too have to fight.
And what I told him was, it had never even crossed my mind that he didn't already know.
Yesterday as we sat semi-circle again this time at the What If Conference, I wrote down two quotes that I think any of us who has a dream worth chasing need to hear:
1. Work Freaking Harder (except this time, it may or may not have been the real F-word :) and
2. This is it. Fight like Hell.
My hope is that wherever you are in your dreams and whatever it is that you're working for... you'll fight like hell for it today.
M
Life with J&M
