I thought I’d also contribute a short look back at last summer’s MYFest while I’m on the SPLOT 😀.

To be perfectly honest, last year is now a total blur.  I know I did things and participated in things, but I can’t really pinpoint specific take-aways.  What I appreciated from MYFest was the no FOMO.  While I did experience some FOMO initially, I think this was more of a conditioned response to virtual conference-style events. Because technology allows us to be in more than one place at a time (unlike physically-proximal events like traditional conferences), I think we’ve felt the need to do it all – which can be detrimental to one’s well-being.  As  MyFest progressed, I was increasingly OK with missing things. I did make a list of “must not miss” and did attend most of those, but I was more judicious about scheduling my “must haves” from my “would be nice to haves.”

In the end, I treated MYFest as an informal means of connecting with folks and talking about things of mutual interest without the added stress of organizing the logistics (thank you to all who did organize the logistics!).  It was almost like going for coffee at the local coffee shop and knowing that someone would be there to talk about something you’re interested in and seeing the mental places and spaces (and AHAs!!!) that the discussion takes you.