You’ve got to see it to believe it

As many of you will know, I’ve been building up to speaking at the Big Festoon Festival, which happened Thursday and Friday of last week. My talk was at 11:30 on Friday morning. The festival vibe was absolute… VIBES!

Everybody was on a high, waiting to grow, ready to absorb, ready to connect and rejoice in the feelings you leave a place like that with. The most encouraging space, so many hugs (with respect for those who didn’t want them too!), and so many smiles wherever you looked.

Not my usual going out vibe, a whole load of different people than my own friendship crew, and what a joy to immerse yourself in new characters, totally fresh conversations and learn and connect with even more humans. God, I love humans!

When you go to events like this, people are just ready to learn and think differently. It’s not like networking. It’s definitely not awkward. It’s just a place where everybody feels happy and wants to grow - maybe it feels a bit like some mad business cult when I think back?!!

Nah, but really, there are so many characters you meet there that you just wouldn’t necessarily meet in your regular life. People you wouldn’t maybe get the opportunity to be in the same spaces as, and that’s what I absolutely love about the events Dani (Dani Wallace) creates.

Let me tell you, even when I type these things about ‘business events’ and ‘networking’, I feel a little bit sick because that world is just not me - the world of networking and business. I’m rave to the core (I say that tongue in cheek, I’m usually in bed by 9.30 these days), but guess what? I am actually now part of a networking business world, and those words don’t mean what I thought they meant at all.

In fact, I think that’s been one of my biggest realisations at Ideas Fest: none of the preconceived ideas we have about anything in life are really truths. They are just pre judgements that very often are the things that hold us back from progression.

My talk specifically was about the happiness trap, I go through my own story to make it completely tangible and real.

I guess I’m very fortunate in that the business I run is really just me living out my own life’s experiences and passions, teaching people what I’ve learnt and giving them the tools to change their lives in a way that makes them able to live it in their biggest, truest way too. To make the impact they want to make on this world - whatever that may be.

I suppose my story is so compelling to many because it’s a story of overcoming anxiety, low self-esteem, and panic attacks to a place where I have now launched my own successful business and am watching it change lives and businesses in the most incredible ways.

Now, I want to make very clear, there are people at that festival whose businesses are way bigger and more well-known than mine, by far! That’s part of the pull and what is so incredibly inspirational for me. I think, actually I know, through research and experience, it’s so important to put yourself in spaces where people are doing bigger, braver, more unimaginable things than you can ever imagine!

Why? Because when you put yourself in those spaces, seeing those people and hearing their stories for real, you believe! You see firsthand exactly what is possible (the stuff we are usually told is ‘head in the clouds dreaming!’), and it breaks you out of that ‘be realistic’ robot version of your life that is so often promoted as the only way.

So, so often, we can only ever imagine our lives from the paradigm we’re in at that moment. But of course, there’s so much available for us, we just don’t know it yet because we’ve not seen it, learnt it, experienced it—yet. So… that’s why it’s so important to go to these things!

The other massive takeaway was something I already knew but saw in action—the importance of connection, to one's self and person to person. A stat I shared in my talk is that 45% of adults worldwide report feeling lonely. We’re in the most connected and prosperous era in history, and yet, that’s where we’re at?

When we connect, lives change for the better. Your nervous system calms, your creativity flourishes, your health and relationships improve, and you massively up level - your business, your life, everything.

When we’re disconnected from ourselves and others, our central nervous system is in stress mode, stuck in fight-or-flight, and it shuts down all the good stuff—your creativity, your clarity, and your ability to build meaningful relationships and feel true happiness. But when we feel safe, connected, and supported, we can truly grow in all ways.

There was one woman at Ideas Fest who stood up to pitch Simon Squibb during his Q&A. She was nervous but went for it, took the opportunity in the few moments she had to do so. The next day, her photo booth was up on site! I cheered her on, told her to do it, and she did. She later thanked me, saying my energy helped push her. And that’s the magic of connection—it lifts us all up.

And that’s the beauty… This wasn’t a place for competition or one-upmanship as you might imagine business things are (and can be). Everyone genuinely wants each other to succeed. Imagine if life was always like that? Simon Squibb’s mantra is to ‘give without take’, and I’m all for it. Let’s create that from the inside out. Get to know yourself, believe in yourself, and bring it, bring it, BRING IT!

Have the best week.