24 Hours of Inspiration

Are you letting the season of your life take advantage of you? Or will you take advantage of the season of your life? 

A lot has happened since the last time I’ve written, I’ve taken a few trips outside of Austin but more importantly, I’ve taken a lot of micro adventures within Austin. Those are important. Each micro adventure serves to rejuvenate our souls and our energy despite everything else that is going on in our lives.

The most recent micro-adventure lifted my spirits to the moon and more. Some of you may have heard of their existence and events, some of you may raise your eyebrows and think I’m nuts when I tell you what they’re all about: Daybreaker.

Daybreaker is an early dance (6-9 AM) movement in multiple cities around the world. It begins with an hour of yoga, fitness, meditation, etc of exercise followed by two straight hours of dance. My first experience of Daybreaker was in LA on a boat about a year ago. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, all I knew was it was way too early to be up and dancing but hey, they had coffee and breakfast snacks. With my eyes half shut, feet dragging at every step, dressed in a Tigger costume at 5:30 AM walking towards the boat, I could hear the excitement from afar. Greeters at the door gave out hugs with pure kindness and welcomed us into 2 hours of dance ecstasy.

For those who know me, you know I’m not much of a dancer. I don’t spend my weekends wanting to go out to a club to dance (although I do wish I was a better dancer), but daybreaker is a different type of dance. Enough about my LA experience, fast forward a year later and I find out Daybreaker was coming to Austin. More importantly, they were throwing a slumber party at a hostel the night before. Did someone say hostel slumber party?

I managed to get two friends to go with me. (Do you know how hard it is to get friends to pay to stay in a hostel for a night when they have their own apartment already AND entice them to wake up at 6 AM to dance? More difficult than you think.) This past Wednesday evening, we arrived in the evening at Native Hostel just in time for yoga led by Wild Heart Yoga. After a long day of work, and receiving news that impacts my life on a pretty drastic level, a private session of yoga and meditation was just what I needed to calm my spirits.

I left yoga with my head held high and heart content, ready for a beer and to meet new friends. Little did I know, the night continued to blow me away. Within minutes, I found myself within a group of connected souls discussing various topics such as self-growth, personal development, and how to build a more connected, better world.

We spent the next 5 hours technology-less, fully focused on getting to know one another and not just on the surface level. I’m not even sure we asked one another what we did for a living. A brilliant, incredibly creative game that prompted many of our conversations is Cards For Connection.

Created as a tool to engage and inspire personal connection and experiences, these cards not only force you to dig deep into your own personal values but also brings out the creativity and Guru in us. Cards range from interactive “Tell a story while another player does an interpretive dance” to soul searching “In the past year, I’ve seen growth in ____. It’s made a difference in ___.”

Hours later, we found ourselves in a group hug at 4 AM, knowing that we have made friends for life. A quick hour nap later, I was up and about helping set up for Daybreaker. Perhaps I was wide awake from the spiritual and mental high, or perhaps I was awake from adrenaline, but all I knew was I was empowered, alive and ready to dance my body off for the next 3 hours. P.S. I hit 10,000 steps on my Fitbit at 7:30 AM. That’s a big time record. Only at Daybreaker.

A few of us spent the rest of that day together, lounging by the pool, continuing our conversations. By the time we left each other’s presence, I was physically exhausted yet mentally alive and in awe of the last 24 hours.

Life has a very timely way of reminding us of the power we have to create our own adventures. Despite receiving news that my work visa didn’t come through, I felt oddly at peace and inspired after being surrounded by fellow creatives, entrepreneurs, and connectors.

If there’s one advice I will always recommend day after day, it’d be to make sure you’re constantly seeking to connect and grow. Allow yourself to meet strangers, go to events that may make you feel uncomfortable, and never stop striving for personal development and inspired.

When we are inspired, we are connected “in spirit”.

What better life is there than one in which we’re connected in spirit?