The Alive Workshop, Columbus, OH (2026)

Alive is a dynamic and transformative workshop that takes place over a weekend by engaging in a series of experiential exercises, you will find yourself reaching new heights in all areas of Life, Love, and Leadership!!!

09/30/2026

📣 This page is closing soon - but I’m not going anywhere!

This is an older business page that I am preparing to close. All new posts, videos, announcements, and information about my speaking and leadership work are now being shared on my current page:

👉 Ed Shanley, Speaker

If you haven’t already, please follow me there so we can stay connected. I’d hate for you to miss what’s coming next!

Thank you for being part of this page - and I hope to see you over at my new home.

- Ed

04/06/2026

Help! I'm Stuck and I Can’t Get Free!!!
I was talking to a potential new client the other day and I heard a common statement.

“I feel like I’m just stuck. Ever since my kids graduated, I just don’t know what to do with my life.”

I hear something like this all the time. Hell, I’ve said several times. Very, very few people that I talk to have a vision for what they want in life.

We tend to live for two things:
One, having enough money to pay our bills…
And two, raising our kids.

Then, our kids grow up…
And we realize that we have nothing going on in our lives.

And that’s when it hits.
The silence.
The space.
The question we’ve been avoiding for years:

“Now what?”

Here’s the hard truth…
Most of us didn’t choose our lives.

We followed a path.
A path that someone else created.
We did what we were “supposed” to do.

We checked the boxes.

Career. Marriage. Church. Kids. Stability.

And somewhere along the way…
We stopped asking what we actually wanted.

So when the structure disappears, it feels like we’re stuck.

But here’s the part I want you to really hear:

You’re not stuck.
You’re just unpracticed at choosing yourself. Your life. Your vision.

Let that sink in for a second.

You’re not broken.
You’re not behind.
You didn’t miss your chance.
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be… right now.

You just haven’t spent years asking:
“What do I want my life to look like now?”

Because you were busy surviving.
Providing.
Taking care of everyone else.

Of course you don’t have the answer yet.

But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck.

It just means you’re at the starting line… of a race that you’ve never run before.

And here’s where most people go wrong…
They think they need a massive, perfect, crystal-clear vision before they can move forward.

You don’t.

You need curiosity.

You need to ask better questions:
What actually lights me up right now?
What have I always wanted to try but never gave myself permission to?
What would my life look like if it actually fit who I am today… not who I used to be?

You don’t have to figure out the rest of your life.

You just have to take the next step.

One small, honest step toward something that feels a little more like you.

Because being stuck isn’t a life sentence.

It’s just a moment.
A signal.
An invitation.

To stop living on autopilot…
…and start creating a life that actually fits.

And, if you want help, let me know.

Have a great day everyone.

And, until next time my friends,
Be EDified!!!

03/09/2026

I was sitting in a gay bar last night and looked around. It was filled with a plethora of different guys. Leather guys, drag queens, “straight acting”, and a whole other list.

And it hit me. In some ways, we are all different, but in many ways, we are all the same.

5+5=10.

But so does 7+3
And 8+2
And 6+4
And 13-3
And 40/4
And….
And….
And….

The point is to get to 10. That’s the goal.

And the goal in life?
To live authentically.
To create meaning.
To be happy.
But here’s the thing…
Some of us were handed an equation that was never really ours.
Marriage + kids + church + fitting in = 10.
We worked the math.
We followed the formula.
We tried to make it add up.
And one day we realized…
That it was someone else’s equation.
And no matter how hard we tried…
It never equaled 10.
We had to find our own way to get to 10.
And how you get there will look completely different than anyone else’s.
Yes, there will be similarities.
But each person’s pathway is unique.
Your choices.
Your pathway.
Your life.

Don’t let anyone take that from you.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re “doing it wrong”.

You’re okay. I promise you. You’re the only one who gets to decide what 10 looks like for you.

You got this.

I believe in you. And more importantly, you believe in you.
You’re the only one who gets to decide what 10 looks like for you.
And today, you get to choose how you’re going to get there.

Until next time my friends,
Be EDified!!!

02/09/2026

The other day, I saw a very handsome guy, smiling and laughing. My first thought (well, after the obligatory “damn, he’s good looking!!!”) was, “I wish I could be that relaxed about things, but…”

And then I had a full list of things that came after the but.

Trying to get the business to take off.
Financial stuff.
Health issues.
Past trauma.
You know… the usual greatest hits.

And without even realizing it, I had completely convinced myself that it was impossible for me. I looked at him and thought, “That’s good for him, but I’m different.”

Seriously? What the hell is that?

Why do I do that? And more importantly, why do we do that? We talk ourselves out of a goal before we even try for it.
Is the goal really not for us? Or are we just so wrapped up in our fear and our safe zone that we don’t even want to experiment with something different?

What if instead of saying “I can’t,” we asked a better question?
“What did he do?”
“What does he know that I don’t know?”

Because the truth is, the best way to achieve something is to find someone who has already done it and then learn from what they did. Not in a copy-and-paste way, but in a “give me a blueprint” way. It’s a map, not a guarantee.

And that’s where it actually gets interesting.

We don’t get to just give up. But we also don’t have to get it perfect. We get to experiment. We get to try something, see if it works for us, and if it doesn’t, we get to adjust and try again.

For example, if you’re trying to lose weight, the basic idea is pretty simple: move more and eat less.

But what does that actually look like for you? Do you like the gym? Dancing? Walking? Swimming? I lost weight by running the D***y Challenge, but if you hate running like I hate brussels sprouts, that’s going to be a miserable plan for you.

Your goals have to fit who you are, not who you think you’re supposed to be.

But regardless of what the goal is, I keep coming back to the same truth: if someone else can do it, there’s a really good chance you can too. Not because you’re identical, but because you’re human. And humans learn by watching other humans go first.

So maybe the real question isn’t “Why can’t I?”
Maybe it’s “What small thing am I willing to try next?”
And if you need help figuring that out, you know where to find me. I’m always happy to walk that path with you.

Until next time, my friends,
Be EDIfied 💙

01/01/2026

Happy New Year!!!

Billions of people around the world will be wishing each other a Happy New Year.

But the big question is why? I mean seriously - what is the difference between December 31st and January 1st? Honestly, not much. Except one thing.

Hope. Hope that things could be better.

We set resolutions or goals and we think “My life will be better if only I could…”

The hard thing is that often we try to make these resolutions/goals happen for a few days and give up.

And when we give up, we tell ourselves a familiar story:
“See? I can’t change.”
“This is just who I am.”
“Why even bother?”

But the problem was never January 1st.
And it was never a lack of willpower.

The problem is that we’ve been taught to treat hope like a feeling instead of a practice.

Hope isn’t something the calendar gives us. Hope isn’t about what is or isn’t going on in the world around us.

Hope is something we choose, again and again, especially when it’s uncomfortable.

Real change doesn’t happen because the year changed.

It happens when we change what we do next.

Not everything.
Not all at once.

Just one small, intentional choice that says, “I’m willing to try differently.”

That might mean asking for support instead of doing it alone.
Being kinder to yourself when you slip.

Letting go of the idea that change has to be dramatic to be real.

Hope doesn’t require perfection.
It only requires participation.

So if you’re entering this new year feeling tired, cautious, or even skeptical—that’s okay.

You don’t need to believe everything will be better.
You only need to believe that something could be different…
and that you’re allowed to be part of making it so.

That’s the real gift of a new year.
Not the date - but the choice.

Happy New Year.

Until next time my friends,
Be EDified

09/15/2025

WOW!!! There's SO many things going on with the business lately it's not even funny.

Last week, I got to give one of my signature workshops on Communications to a business organization. I got some feedback comments from some of the attendees.

Here's some of the comments:

"This presentation will make you a better employee, family and community member."

"Informative. Ed made me think about ways to communicate with different teams".

"Really good session to understand effective communication."

"Meaningful and essential"

100% of the attendees said that the session was valuable and 100% said they would attend a session like this again.

Between now and the end of November, I've got 6 more speeches planned.

If you have an organization and would like to book me, drop me a line!!!

Address

Columbus, OH

Telephone

+1 614-969-0386

Website

http://www.thealiveworkshop.com/

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