HLS: Thoughts a Week Later

I’ve been home from the Healthy Living Summit in Boston/Cambridge since last Monday.  It’s probably time (or past time) for me to share my final thoughts on the weekend.  And then I’ll stop talking about HLS.  Maybe.

As I already mentioned, I enjoyed this year’s Summit more than the 2 I attended previously, which I had obviously liked enough to keep going every year.  I feel like the time I spent with people was much more quality than in the past; whether that was a change in me or something else, I don’t know, but it was good.  I feel like I formed some really good relationships with people, based on things beyond blogging.  The 2012 Healthy Living Summit was at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge.  They were more accommodating than any Summit hotel I’ve stayed in before and the food was excellent.

Here’s the thing though: in past years, I’ve always left the Summit thinking “That was great.  I learned new things, I met some bloggers I wanted to meet, I made some new friends, I had a lot of fun.  But really I’m satisfied, I don’t need to return.  I can do something else with my summer next year.”

But this year I feel especially jazzed about my blogging and Relishments.  I have all sorts of site makeover ideas, post thoughts and outreach possibilities.  As Rachel noted in her HLS post, “YES TO BLOGGING! THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVARRRR!”  As a result, I can promise you a full-site makeover that I’m actually feeling prepared to do (now its just a matter of finding the time…), new contacts and information and hopefully more quality in general.

I don’t feel “done” with HLS this year; I’m really looking forward to next year.  And I’m not the only one.  All weekend there was buzz about where the next HLS is going to be and how we can make it happen.   If I remember correctly, in 2010 and 2011 there were discussion about if a Healthy Living Summit was going to happen the next year, not where.  Granted, some of that feeling of 2013 excitement may be based on my relationship with Heather, Julie and Meghann, but I don’t think they were the only ones starting to plan ahead.

I feel really excited about the 2013 Summit.  On a couple occasions through the weekend, I jotted down ideas to share with the planning committee about things I loved and possibilities for the future.  Granted, I’m a compulsive over-planner, but it’s never transferred to HLS before.

This isn’t a promise that I’ll be at #HLS13, but I plan to do my best.

(Thanks to the HLS Facebook page and Meghann for some of the photos for this post)