On Debilitating Anxiety and Cancelling The First DDP in 10 Years…
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Dearest friends:
For many reasons, it’s been a very challenging year. And for months, I’ve been doing my best to share the trials and tribulations leading up to the Sept. 21st World Peace Day Decentralized Dance Party on social media and within my Don’t Stop Believing #DSB vlog.
But due to ongoing anxiety issues, I’ve been unable to focus and deliver…
This post was originally intended to be a triumphant share after returning home from two successful DDPs in Toronto and Zurich last month.
(for the full backstory, please click HERE)
In Zurich, we met Hjalte, the visionary co-founder of SOUNDBOKS, shot a mini documentary with them and discussed the near-infinite possibilities for future product and video collaborations with DDP!
They are a rad company created from scratch by young entrepreneurs to produce the loudest portable speakers in the world. In three short years, their amazing creation has revolutionized the global speaker market and enabled tens of thousands to create epic Party experiences anywhere at any time!
That evening, I was honored to share a heartfelt speech on DDP and Decentralization as “Acceptance Movements” at the Swiss Key launch Party.
And another on a massive stage at the Blockchain Futurist Conference.
And we threw two incredible Parties with amazing friends old and new!
But behind the scenes, I was falling apart. My brain was severely overloaded from the accumulated stress of the past six months and gripped with debilitating anxiety and insomnia.
More than half the nights on tour were completely sleepless and stress-ridden. Panic would strike at the exact moment I was about to fall asleep and torment me for hours. The sleeping pills stopped working. It felt like my brain was dying and I was not sure if I would make it to the end.
For me, anxiety has been FAR worse than any physical injury I’ve ever sustained (and there’s been some pretty nasty ones). And since it’s invisible, nobody is going to offer any sympathy or support unless you open up about it.
Before I experienced true anxiety for the first time in 2015, I used to think that people who complained about it were just weak.
I was wrong.
It’s absolute torture and my heart goes out to anyone dealing with it.
What I’ve learned is that MOST of the people I opened up to had experienced it as well and were extremely supportive! Please don’t suffer in silence. You are not just being weak. Anxiety is a modern epidemic and you have many allies who will be glad to help :)
BUT THEN!
Upon returning home, I began experimenting with a weird new breathing technique that seemed to be a miracle cure for my anxiety!
I was fired up and 100% ready to host our 100th Party for the DDP’s 10th anniversary on World Peace Day. Triumph was close at hand!
But shortly thereafter, in the midst of a huge week-long life and DDP assessment / future foundation-building process, I had a pretty intense reckoning.
And was forced to concede that for the first time in 10 years and 100 Parties, it was time to heed the heartfelt advice of the close friends who had been watching me suffer. To finally cancel a Party in order to regroup and rebuild…
However!
It’s not really a cancellation.. merely a postponement!
HERE’S A LINK to the Facebook event page for the World Peace Day DDP in Vancouver. The date has been shifted from 2019 to 2020 ;)
I hope you will join us or host your own independently. Rest assured, it will be worth the wait and the resonance created will reach and inspire millions!
(and there’s still a Party going down.. scroll to the bottom for all ze details)
We have the most incredible network of supporters and believers and I can’t wait for the next decade of hyper-organized, high-impact co-creation with all the beautiful people involved in this movement.
I’m feeling very happy with the decision to postpone the Peace Day festivities and as confident as ever that Capital-P Partying, properly applied, is truly A Force More Powerful Than All Others Combined!
I look forward to sharing many more heartfelt videos and posts as we apply Advanced Military Stratagem to the creation of love and beauty on an interstellar scale. The Nobel Peace Prize is still within reach!
For the past three months, I’ve been documenting my struggles to regain inner peace while working towards the creation of the Peace Day DDP and interviewing tons of others about their peace practices as well.
It’s been quite the journey and there’s a ton of amazing footage that I’m hoping to share within the Don’t Stop Believing #DSB vlog series ASAP.
I’m not sure exactly when this will happen, as it’s clear that I need a long, deep rest in order to recover and get back to a place where I’ll be fired up and ready to charge forward for another decade from a place of love and balance.
But perhaps both endeavors can happen simultaneously…
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to keep abreast!
I love you all very much.
Gary Lachance
>>> Although the Sept. 21st Peace Day DDP in Vancouver has been postponed, my Unofficial Son Jacques Martiquet of VYVE (an amazing Capital-P Party movement inspired by the DDP) will be carrying the torch and hosting a Soundboks-powered mobile celebration on the same night. Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: My Unofficial Son led us to victory!
#THEDDP #WAGEPEACE
