I was recently blessed with the opportunity to share my story of “Finding My Voice” as a keynote-style webinar presentation for the eWomenNetwork. This was such an exciting opportunity, and it scared me to DEATH! I mean, presenting on something means you have to be the authority on it, right? It means that you have already become perfected in this area and that there is absolutely nothing more you can learn… or does it?

I will admit that I used to feel this way and that sometimes I still let myself slip back into the belief that until I am perfect, there is no way I can speak up about anything. I was one to keep all of my imperfections locked safely away until I noticed that there wasn’t much left of me…
As I have mentioned before, I have begun to let these faulty little pieces of me out, and somehow I’ve felt more alive than ever! I have more friends because somehow my “bravery” has made me more relatable. As I share my stories of fear and discomfort and weakness, people tell me that I have touched them and inspired them to unlock the safe as well. So you think that “just going for it”would become easier and that by continuing to do hard things would make them easier, right? Well, SOMETIMES that answer is yes, but most of the time, at least so far for me, the answer is a big, resounding NO WAY, JOSE!

Sometimes I don’t realize I am afraid of doing something right up until the moment that I am going to do it. That was the case with this webinar…I felt mostly confident with the material I had to share. I had worked hard and had access to master presenters who gave me tips along the way, but as soon as the facilitator announced my name and my subject “Five Fundamental Steps to Finding Your Voice,” I swear I lost mine. It felt like I was fighting a powerful wind that would swallow my words before I could get them out. But I had to keep going–she had hit record! This THING that I had been dreaming about was happening! I wasn’t going to stop before I was finished. What’s a little wind, right?

When I was finished, the facilitator asked me how I felt about it. I told her that I felt great! (because I really did!) but that I was worried about the shakiness of my voice. She told me that while my voice wasn’t the loudest, most confident of all she had heard, the fluctuation between moments of weakness and moments of confidence illustrated my story, and that’s what made it believable.

BELIEVABLE! That’s my whole goal! I don’t want to be someone who is a speaker of the word only but is a DOER of the word! I want to be in the trenches, with my sleeves rolled up, encouraging people to keep going because I’ve seen the other side and it’s AMAZING!!

AND I am really excited to share this presentation with you as soon as it is up and ready to view!!!