EVEN NOW: Recap and Recording
Thank You to everyone who joined me during National Suicide Prevention Week. Also, who releases event merch after the event?
Thank You to everyone who showed up for EVEN NOW a few nights ago. I hope you found it meaningful and encouraging. This event meant a lot to me on a few different levels and I'm sincerely grateful to each of you who bought a ticket and chose to be there. Thanks for spending the evening with us. (Morning for Marlei in Australia.) On the note of us, thank you to Levi The Poet for lending his voice and sharing the stage. You have such a gift and you added so much. It was really special to be able to create something with you. A special thanks to Catherine Danner and Charis Koch, who are both part of the amazing small-group community I kept raving about in my talk. They helped behind the scenes and during Q&A, while also providing some serious moral support throughout.
While nothing beats being together in an old theater or your favorite local venue, I hope that even virtually, the event left you feeling more human, more alive, and less alone.
If you missed EVEN NOW and these words have you curious, I have some good news. We recorded the whole thing! The recording is available for $7.50 in my online store. It includes a short set by Levi The Poet (30 min), my talk (60 min), and then Q&A with the two of us (60 min), for a total of 2.5 hours.
When I woke up Friday morning—after a Starbucks run (drive) with Gracie, of course—I went to work designing an EVEN NOW shirt. While it would have made a lot of sense to have a shirt for sale before and during the event, I love that by designing this after, it ends up with words that were shared during—not only my talk but Levi's set as well. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I hope you dig it too.
EVEN NOW was me stepping out of my comfort zone in a number of ways. This was my first time hosting and promoting an online speaking event open to anyone. On the tech side, it was my first time hosting a Zoom Webinar. I’ve hosted a ton of small groups on Zoom over the last year. Webinars are a different beast, with more moving parts. I couldn’t have done it without Levi, Catherine, and Charis. There were firsts for all of us and we all learned a lot.
On the content side, my EVEN NOW talk was another step beyond what’s familiar. I didn’t play the hits. I didn’t tell the TWLOHA origin story. I didn’t say a lot of the things I’ve been saying for the last 17 years. What ended up coming out is maybe my all-time favorite talk, mostly unplanned and off-the-cuff, fresh stories and fresh ideas, based on questions I’ve been wrestling. Hopefully all of the pieces add up to the belief that life is worth living even now. I hope you’ll check it out, and maybe watch or share it with a friend.
EVEN NOW has me excited to do more, to keep getting creative, collaborating with friends, and offering new kinds of events. I hope you’ll join me. As always, thank you for being here. Thank You for caring. Thanks for your support.
If you like the sound of EVEN NOW and want to bring a suicide prevention event to your workplace, school, or community, the amazing team at Collective Speakers can help.
Upcoming small-group conversations:
“I Wish I Had More Friends” on Friday, September 22.
“I’m in a Season of Change” on Friday, September 29.
