We all have our reasons for not going to a VHL meeting. Maybe it’s really too much airfare this year, but the meetings move to different regions in hopes of being close to you at some point. If the meeting is within 500 miles of you, please take a hard look at your thoughts about not coming. I could tell you about hotel food charges and the high cost of renting projectors. I could tell you about all the speakers who come at their own expense to keep the registration low for attendees.

Instead, let me ask you to ask yourself whether your reasons are really valid, or whether it’s really your own avoidance of coming. This is a chance-of-a-lifetime to have this meeting closer to you than it may ever be again. When the meeting was in Hawaii, one lady who lived in Hawaii said to me that she could commute from home, but the registration fee was too expensive. "Well," I said to her, "it will never be cheaper." With fifty states, how often will we hold the Annual Meeting in her state? No airfare (she could drive), no hotel (she could stay at home). There were people who paid thousands of dollars to be at the Hawaii meeting, and she was balking at $150? At that point, you need to inspect your reasons and see what it is that is really keeping you away.

We all have things that stop us. Just ask yourself if you are letting yourself be stopped when you could push forward and have some real breakthroughs. You might want to call the hotline and talk about your fears and concerns with someone who has been there.

You are the only one who can make or break your own success. You can let VHL stop you, or you can break through that barrier and have a Happy Life in spite of it all. We all have limitations, and we all have more power than we exercise. It’s not about "dwelling on it," it’s about acknowledging this part of our real lives and learning to manage it well, keep it in its place.

There will be audio tapes for the information, but it's not half as valuable as being there, meeting people, asking your very own questions, hugging people, being hugged, having someone truly understand what you're going through in a way you have never experienced before. Do you really want to deprive yourself of that?

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 7:1, March 1999. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.