The last brunch meeting I had with my mentoring group was quite a while ago. I know that we decided to not meet as often because it was getting tough for the group to plan, but I don’t think we ever thought we would have 5 months between brunches. Part of this was due to the holidays and we knew that it would be very difficult to meet when so many of us were out of town or celebrating certain holidays.
Even though I am the organizer of our brunches, nobody blamed me for taking so long to schedule the one we had this past weekend. Everything understood that we were really busy and that we would see each other eventually. And we did consider trying to meet in January, but when we all shared our availability it was best to meet this last Sunday.
And I’m glad that we waited because we did get all 6 of us together for brunch! It’s not easy to mind a day and time that all 6 of us are free, but somehow we did it! I don’t remember the last time we were all there, and I think we all forgot about how crowded our brunch table could be with 6 people instead of 4 or 5. We sat in one of our usual booths, but we did have to squish together a bit to make it work. But that was fine because we did want to be able to hear what each other was sharing and saying.
I don’t think any of us believed that it had been 5 months since we had been together because it didn’t really seem that long ago. But we did all have lots of things to share and I loved hearing all of the updates everyone had.
And this time, I finally had quite a few things to share with the group. The last brunch we had was before the union convention, so I shared about that and how I have been going as an observer to the local board meetings. Even though I had shared things about past conventions, being an observer at the board meetings is something new and it was fun getting to share what I could about those.
And the last brunch we had was also before I finished writing the first draft of my book! They all knew I was trying to write a book about online dating, but I don’t think I had shared with them how I changed the concept of the book and I know they didn’t know that I had finished writing my first draft. I think they all loved the new idea of how I organized my stories and they all thought the book would be something that should be published and could sell quite a bit. I’m glad they all felt that way because I’m feeling that way about the book too. None of them have published a book so they didn’t have referrals to literary agents or had specific advice for the next steps, but they were really encouraging with what I need to do next and I know that if they think of someone who could help me that they will connect me to them.
Everyone else had lots of news to share. Some things were good and some weren’t as good. But everyone had progress that they had made in their lives and careers since the last time we were together. And making progress and not getting stuck is the key to this industry because it’s so easy to get frustrated and not keep pushing ahead. If you get a rejection, that’s not a dead end. You have to find another way to make it happen. That’s what all of us reminded each other because there are so many things that we could believe was the end of the road when it’s just a detour we need to get around.
As always, hearing everyone being so encouraging to others is such a huge benefit I get out of this group. It’s not easy to find people who not only understand the process you are going through but help you stay positive and working toward your goals. I always say how incredibly lucky I am to have this mentoring group, and I really can’t express how grateful I am for these women. We’ve been supporting each other for so long and it has benefitted my life so much. And I know that I will continue to get so many good things out of this group because I don’t see an end to our support. This has become such an important part of my life and I really look forward to seeing the successes we each have in our futures. I know it will happen, it’s just a matter of time.
We are still trying to meet 3-4 times a year so we have somewhat regular meetings. I feel pretty certain that we will find a way to meet up at least 2 more times this year. But hopefully, we can get in that last meeting so we are able to meet up once a quarter. But no matter how long it takes before we all can be together again, I know it will be amazing when we see each other and that I will leave our brunch feeling inspired and ready to get to work!
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