But due to the years of hype I knew Alt was going to be amazing. I knew I was going to gain an obscene amount of knowledge and meet people worthy of looking up to. What I didn’t know was how overwhelming and exhausting it would be.
I can’t lie, when my over-activated mind felt like it was overstuffed with cotton balls and my face muscles begged me to stop smiling for one darn minute, all I wanted was to escape from it all just for a tiny moment so I could regain composure. I remember one moment at Alt when I read in my mind the words from Ez of Creature Comforts. She admitted to also getting overwhelmed and sometimes needing to have a little cry too. This helped me realize it’s normal to feel overwhelmed and exhausted amongst so much amazement. We as humans can only handle a certain amount of stimulation, but we can keep our sanity in check while glitter and smiles whirl around us.

Here’s how I survived Alt and had an amazing time doing it.

• Smile: I love smiling, really I do. And what I love even more is smiling at a stranger and receiving a smile back. Thank you to the 99.99% of you who, whether I talked to you or not, smiled back and made my day brighter.
• Connect: Connecting and networking is such a huge part of alt, but I knew if I tried to connect with all 649 people I would go insane. I didn’t make it my goal to get rid of the 250 business cards I brought. In fact I believe I have about 150 left. And while I’m trying to figure out what to do with all of those, I feel so much better knowing I didn’t push myself beyond my limits, and I’m so happy with the connections I did make. I love you all!
• Breathe: Yup, being in a room with hundreds of people in immaculate outfits and perfectly coiffed hair can certainly be intimidating. Whenever I felt like I slightly didn’t belong, I would just take a deep breath and smile (yup! smile!). Really I believe that combo could solve all of the worlds’ problems.
• Wonder: Being at alt is kind of like being a child again. There are so many things to look at and experience for the very first time, and it’s okay to enjoy it like a kid. Yes, that was my jumping up and down squealing at things like the headband making station by The Land of Nod or the goodie bag on my lunch plate with an adorable heart necklace from Fresh Tangerine. It’s fun being like a kid sometimes.
• Enjoy: Alt is the design bloggers disneyland (giant swan included) and it was hard sometimes not to get caught up in the whirlwind. I would have to remind myself to step back, look around and soak it all in.
• Appreciate: What!? I’m here!? WOAH!
• Hydrate: Being an island/sea level girl, the altitude sickness crept in. I staved it off as much as I could by drinking a lot of h20.
• Eat: Oh yeah, that’s important too.
• Focus: I had a goal (discussed here) and I stuck to it. This made it far easier for me to not feel bad about and compare myself to everyone who was doing a great job of hustling the amazing sponsors.
• Colour: Pens that is. Taking notes in coloured pens is always more fun
• Risk: Risk taking makes life interesting, especially when there are people you look up to whom you want to meet. Thankfully pretty well every single person at Alt is really relaxed and wants to meet you too.
• Push: Admittedly, there were times where all I wanted to do was lay down on the pink hotel carpet and take a big old nap. And while I know my body would have appreciated it (and ultimately you should always listen to your body) I knew I would regret it later if I missed a single second. So I pushed through it, and while my body and emotions did take a bit of a toll (hence me admitting I wanted to cry on a few occasions) I’m so glad I stuck around and absorbed everything I could.
• Understand: As much as I did push myself to do everything, I still didn’t get to it all! I must admit I’m very sad I didn’t do a Bing or Go Mighty photobooth (sad right!?) but I’m learning to understand that there’s a lot going on at Alt, and you can’t do everything.
• Learn: Note taking, analyzing, conceptualizing, learning. That’s what it’s all for.

And most importantly: