#RWA17 When I first arrived at RWA Nationals, I had some serious concerns that I had made a tragic mistake in going. This was my first conference.
Everyone seemed to know everyone else. I had a flash of that moment years before on my first day of junior year in a new high school located across the country from my previous high school. I walked into the lunchroom alone into a social quagmire populated with literally hundreds of teenaged strangers.
Is HS lunchroom PTSD a thing?
I considered if ‘going to RWA conference’ could mean getting gallons of ice cream and hiding in my room. I would be writing, would that make it okay?
Luckily, I signed up for dinner with Sharon Sala. She generously offered to take five first timers to dinner or breakfast.
I arrived early and spotted a group of women that maybe were int he group. Nope, I stumbled on a group of several ‘someones’. Those people that I am sure I should have had a clue who they were, but did not.
I did the social equivalent of ducking and running.
Then I met Sharon. It was amazing. She was amazing. I had five people that I now knew. Five people I exchanged contact info with. The conference became not so big and not so scary.
What have you done that pushed your comfort zone or even better helped someone with theirs?