Hi. Mary Agnes Antonopoulos here from Viral Integrity, I’m the Chief Marketing Officer, and I’m the CEO of Rockaway Writer. I own both companies and I am really successful, and generally speaking, very happy. I enjoy my life.
I just spent the last three days at Sally Anderson’s retreat from Freefall Experiences. I just wanted to share that this turned out to be probably the most incredible and fulfilling, wonderful ... one of the best things I ever did in my life.
I just wanted to a) thank Sally for putting together a set of exercises and practices, and setting a stage that was so completely safe and encouraging everyone to go deeper and more vulnerable.
It’s hard to even explain this, but what happened is I feel like ... You know how we’ve all got that Oz inside of us, where you pull back the curtain and there’s just a little man? We all try and present something that we believe or we try and believe, or we want others to believe, but behind that, we’re all pretty sure that we’re just that little man, that Oz.
What really happened for me is I feel like we got there and what we really present is the little person that we are. When we pull back the curtain, it turns out that there’s a great Oz inside. What it took to get from the limited person that I think we all, deep inside, fear we are, or know that we are, to pull back the curtain and find the Oz inside of us was ... this was a big deal.
What did I get out of this retreat? The first thing is it hit restart on my marriage. Because you think you know what makes someone tick after 18 years of marriage. Hello, answer the phone, because you don’t. I did not know what made him tick, and why he made the decisions he does, and he did not know mine. In fact, I might even go as far as to say I did not know mine. I did not know my own raison d'etre, reason for being, what runs your show deep inside. Knowing that is very empowering.
I’ve done a lot of work on myself, and this is different. This is way different. That’s one thing, is this restart on my marriage is huge, huge for me, and I think for him, too. This was also a restart on our company, because I did not know why he had those goals or what he wanted from this company, and he did not know mine. To have a restart for our company and what we are looking for from life and for every single client who works for us and who works with us, who hires us, this is a huge, different way to go.
My confidence is OK. I liked me before I did. I worked really hard on that, but you know what? I feel differently about this woman that I am, who’s ... this woman that I’m stewarding through this life and the mistakes she made, and the great, abundant choices she’s made. I feel differently about this me.
Finally, I just want to say that I made lifelong friends in this very safe space they created. I wasn’t looking for that. I was not looking for friendships. Friendship to me is extremely important, and it’s deep and meaningful, and it’s a huge commitment that I don’t make lightly. To leave with everybody in that room as a lifelong friend and a different tribe of people, I wasn’t looking for it. I want these people in my life. I want this tribe of friends because this was ... I think probably the best work any of us ever did. We are forever joined.
I just want to thank Sally and Daniel for ... I don’t know how they created this thing. I don’t know how they came up with these practices and exercises, and how it all fit together, but it’s been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I’m almost 50 years old. I recommend it. Worth ten times what I paid. Worth ten times the amount of time spent there. Just worth,worth, worth, worth. Best, most valuable experience of my lifetime. Thanks, Sally.
