The last eight weeks have been a whirlwind. Check that. They’ve been more like the twisted offspring. Of a tornado. And a typhoon. Put together. A big crazy storm of schedule that at first glance looks big and scary and ominous and untamable. We used to teach elementary school, so we know our weather systems pretty well, and a typhoon-tornado-whirlwind just about sums life as of lately up! The thing is, though: we saw it coming. In all its glory. It wasn’t like a, Hey, we think February and March might be busy! It was more like, Holy moly! Buckle up! It’s gonna be a wild ride! And it was a ride. (But it only got wild a few times. Like when Amy danced Gangnam Style at a wedding reception with a man wearing an animal head mascot/frat house giddup, for example.)
Despite the looong hours, copious coffee intake and physical side effects of stress working (and eating), like twitching eyes or Jordan’s semi-permanently-camera-gripped-stuck hand, it’s been worth it. So worth it. Every second of it. Because nine weddings meant the chance to love nine brides, nine grooms, and 18 families. To have the honor and privilege of preserving their memories. Opening our new home for the first time to out-of-town guests meant deeper friendships and lots of fellowship. Both so, so tiring for the body, but so, so good for the soul. Do you have friends like that? They’re the best, right? We traveled to Las Vegas to speak at WPPI for the first time (to get our proverbial teaching wings, although we wish you got real pilot wings!) and hosted three two-day AJ Workshops (a recap of our third is coming later this week!) on top of mountains of clients meetings, coaching and engagement sessions, friends, family, church, and so much more.
From the outside looking in, it might seem exhausting. Draining. But it’s not, friends. It’s life-giving, soul-thirst-quenching. Because we’ve spent the past eight weeks reminding ourselves of Zig Ziglar’s famous quote that, to us, even though we fall short of this all the time, is the target that we’re striving for:
You can have everything you want in life if you’ll just help enough people get what they want in life.
This is our heart, friends. This is what’s driving us. It’s how we keep finding fuel when we know the warning light’s been on for weeks and we’ve been out of gas for so long we can’t remember when we last filled up our tank all the way (which we have plans to do this summer).
Our fuel? It’s the photographer, who is also a dedicated mother, who got vulnerable and with tears in her eyes told us she didn’t have any weddings booked for the year and just wanted enough clients to be able to pay for soccer practice, dance lessons, family vacations, and a few small luxuries here and there, who’s booked more than a wedding per month since those kitchen table tears and, since that coaching session, has earned almost $20,000. Enough for soccer practice for the whole team. Lessons for all the dancers. Maybe even a few family vacations.
It’s the married couple at our workshop who’s been working so hard for so long that they’ve almost forgotten that they’re married, too. Not just business partners. But life partners. We’ve been there. We so get that. But coming alongside them when it seemed like the boulder was too heavy for two anymore — when it seemed like it was on its way back down the hill — and being able to say, Here, if you leverage this tool, it’ll be easier. You won’t have to be a slave to your dream anymore that’s become a nightmare. You can have date nights again. You can train the boulder to start moving all by itself.
Friends, that’s what this is all about. Because whether it was teaching long division to little children or the intricacies of running a photography business to adults, nothing — almost nothing — in our life has been more gratifying than watching someone’s eyes go from dim to lit up, seeing their body go from deflated to inflated, watching their eyes start with, “I’m scared. I can’t do this. I’m not good enough.” and changing to, “I can. I believe in myself. I’ve got this.”
Our fuel is this ah-ha moments. Our fuel is the life change.
And maybe you’re reading this and where you are right now had caused your eyes to well up as your eyes track across this screen (or maybe the geyser has already burst) because you’ve been working too hard for too long, too far detached from the people and things you love most in this world because of a dream that seemed catchable but’s proven elusive, take a deep breath, and take heart. You’re not alone and it will get better. Don’t give up. Just. Keep. Fighting.
If you’re looking for a momentum builder that’ll help get you unstuck, we’d love to join you on your journey at our next workshop. We’re opening our playbook and sharing everything we can to empower you to make things happen. To shake the ground. And make real impact. We’re so excited to announce a brand new city on a brand new date this summer in Richmond, Virginia on June 8 and 9. We’re excited to watch this family of #ajworkshop attendees continue to grow and thrive and to bring this workshop to the other end of the country! Our newsletter friends got special priority access, so we only have a few seats left! You can snag a seat before they’re gone by clicking right here and check out what to expect by clicking on the recap posts from the other workshops down below.
All of that? THAT is our fuel.
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