Are you holding something back?

I need 110%

You have to give us your all.

Are you all in?

How many times have you heard that from leadership at work?  Well, I am here to share that I have been holding back (intentionally) from my work family…..and I am so glad I did.

I share regularly with my work family (co-workers, clients, fellow vendors and yes, all of social media) about my life. 

• My beautiful family….even when we are not so beautiful. 
• My health and fitness journey….even when it is off track.
• My thoughts on just about everything….even when they are unfiltered.

But there is one thing I have be deliberately holding for my family.  An experience I refused to have with anyone but them.

I have lost count of how many clients I have told ‘No’ to very enticing offers to experience Galaxy’s Edge at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland.  How many trips I could have snuck away on and enjoyed the experience for myself…..but I held out….and I am so glad I did.

If you ended up on a Zoom call with me, watched a webcast or saw a social media post from my office during the pandemic, it will come as no surprise that I am both a Star Wars and a Disney fan….in the truest sense of the word….fanatic.

Like – have never been defeated at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (Original Trilogy…I am OG after all) kind of fanatic.

Like – have ‘my own’ Disney Christmas tree that Joy let’s me have upstairs kind of fanatic.

I fell like I have lived at the perfect time to be a Star Wars fan.

I am writing the first half of this literally across the street from Mann’s Chinese Theatre, where Star Wars: A New Hope debuted in 1977, the year I first saw that amazing opening scene where what we now know is a Star Destroyer fly over my head on the opening scene.  One that broke the movie making business (did you know that Star Wars was the first film to not roll credits at the start to the movie??   Like I said, Trivial Pursuit Champion)

I grew up with toys from Kenner and Mattel.  Dressing up as Luke and even R2D2 for Halloween.  Turning every empty wrapping paper tube into a lightsaber.  Waiting in line to see every new release and recoiling in horror as we found out who Luke’s father really was.

But then came the prequels.  A series of movies that received a ton of Star Wars hate but I absolutely loved, both because they were actually good, IMO, but also because my boys were born at the tail end.  Revenge of the Sith was probably the first age-inappropriate movie I brought them to. I got to live it all over again through their eyes.

Then came the animated series.  The Lego sets.  Spider Man crashing the Lego Death Star and the horror and sorry we all felt. And then…….

On May 29^th, 2019 – Galaxy’s Edge opened in Disneyland

So of course I did what every self respecting Star Wars fans did…..I didn’t go. 

An entire ‘Land’ dedicated to Star Wars….and for four and a half years I have avoided going. 

Four and a half years that involved at least 30 trips to either Orlando or Orange County, CA (yes, I went back and counted).  Conferences…..client visits….heck, visits to family!! 

But not one included a trip to what is the Mecca for Star Wars fans of all ages.

Now mind you, not because I did not want to.  Quite the opposite, I have desperately wanted to experience it first hand….

WITH MY BOYS.

Well, all of that ended this weekend.

And the wait was absolutely worth it.

Everything from YouTube video tutorials on Smuggler’s Run, study sessions on the park map, rewriting the family rules for experiencing Disney, the plane flights, the Park Hoppers, the Genie+ strategy, early Saturday wake up call,  to ‘walking with a purpose’ at rope drop.

And the payoff?  I nearly cried when I entered the que at Rise of the Resistance.  Seriously.

I am sure I would have had a similar reaction with people other than my family or if I had gone on my own…..but they wouldn’t have gotten it.  They don’t have the same shared history.

Alas, we did not recreate the photo but we did write a whole new chapter in our family’s story and obsession with a Galaxy far far away.  A chapter that would have read very differently if I had experienced it prior to going with them.  A chapter I will go back and revisit on the regular.

In today’s professional world of team building, transparency through social media and a bit of selective story telling I think we should all be willing to hold certain things back.  The things that should be shared with family.  Experiences they deserve.  The best of you they deserve.