Ghost Mode
So it may have seemed collabo vanished for a few weeks.
And before anybody starts with the “yess sis protect your peace” speeches, please understand:
No silent retreat.
No journaling near a waterfall.
A touch of “pouring back into myself.”
Yes, somewhere slightly febrile saying:
WHO ELSE NEEDS SOMETHING FROM ME?!
😭😂
First back to school. Then back to school virus.
Then the whole team caught the rona.
Then deadlines started breeding.
Then new beginnings started kicking the door in like, “Hey girl! You ready?”
NO.
I AM NOT.
COME BACK THURSDAY.
And somewhere around day six, the comms department looked at me, packed her little purse, and said:
“Clearly this is not a priority right now. Call me when y’all get this household together.”
Fair.
Because…
Sometimes we call it “ghost mode” when really you are just a woman with a fever and 47 tabs open and at least three of them are playing music and you cannot figure out WHICH THREE.
Yes, ideas.drafts.things to say.
Also people with coughs and muscle aches and 21 hour sleep cycles.
So.Here we are.
And strangely enough, we came out of these two weeks more excited than ever because—
COLLABO RETREAT YEAR THREE IS COMING.
And baby…
we are going to the FLORIDA KEYS.
Yes.
THE KEYS.
Because after several years of work, leadership, personalities, policies, Zoom meetings, “per my last email,” and people scheduling meetings that absolutely could have been an email…
We have earned some crystal WATERS. And we are at capacity. For privacy’s sake as a private membership for the safety of our sisters we keep it on the DL like Kels.
😂
We will say, this third annual collabo retreat feels different already.
Year one was:
“OMG, we really did this!”
Year two was:
“Wait… we are coming back?!”
Year three is:
“Ohhhh.
We know who we are now.”
And THAT is a different kind of energy.
We have lessons now.
Stories.
Jokes.
Things that worked.
Things that absolutely did NOT work and will never see daylight again.
Things we thought were brilliant that the universe gently placed in the trash.
And brand-new ideas that are about to change how collabo shows up.
Because collabo is growing up.
Not ever corporate grown.
Absolutely not.
Nobody is about to make us start saying things like “synergistic stakeholder alignment.”
We will shut the whole thing down.
😂
But grounded grown.
Clearer.
Warmer.
More useful.
More honest.
More focused on what we actually need to survive and thrive without turning into somebody we don’t recognize. Broadcasting at a clearer frequency.
How do you lead without becoming a boss baby?
How do you collaborate without becoming everybody’s emotional support ferret?
How do you have boundaries without sending a six-paragraph text explaining why you have a boundary?
How do you stop taking every weird workplace interaction home and conducting a full FBI investigation in your head at 11:47 p.m.?
(Ma’am. GO TO BED)
That’s the work.
Some new collabo offerings and approaches are coming that feel much more aligned with everything we have learned.
Some things are getting simpler.
Some things are getting deeper.
Some things are getting way more fun.
And several ideas that have been sitting in the Notes app looking homeless are finally getting an address.
So yes.
We disappeared.
But we was not gone.
Mothering.
Leading.
Putting out little fires.
Moving deadlines.
Starting new things.
Watching old things evolve.
Wondering how some people still managed to catch us in spite of a very clear DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging on every door.
And now?
We outside.
Well…
professionally outside.
With our version of continuing education.
And boundaries.
And coconut oil.
collabo: year three.
Florida Keys.
less solo. more soul.
Lessons.
Love.
Goodness.
Growth.
And God willing…we will have 3 hours of meaningful DND in airplane mode before we even land.
🌴