You, You! Be yourself

~ good motto ~

A few weeks ago I was asked to share at the Saturday night fellowship. I was honoured by the invite. I enjoy public speaking and don't often get nervous when the opportunity presents itself to share with others. The only thing is that as I was preparing to present I started to get a little nervous because I started to compare my presentation with Mark's (the other person who was sharing). The things we were speaking about were different; however, it was the way in which we were presenting that got me all nervous. He told me that he had this multimedia presentation- a 9 minute slide show with music and subtitles and to be perfectly honest I was a little intimidated. I thought, "Oh, no! I need to come up with a video presentation too!" After quickly contemplating the movie-making thing, I realized that I had NO idea how to do that! I realized that my presentation didn't need to look like Mark's... it needed to look like my own. I could never present the way Mark did and he could never approach a presentation with my style. I could have made a video but it probably wouldn't have been any good and that's just the honest truth. Our ways were totally different but they were each us. I'm so glad I came to the realization that I need to just do what I do best. Just be me and that will be the best me there is!

Today I accompanied 108 Japanese students to Vancouver. There were about 21 groups of 4 or 5 students, 21 teachers and 21 teen aged helpers along as well. WOW! The trip was jam-packed because the Japanese teachers had outlined for each group to visit 3 or 4 places in the City within a 5 hour time frame! Usually when I go to Vancouver I spend the entire day at 1 place! The teachers were expected to navigate to and from these places (on foot or by public bus) and this STRESSED some people out! They were freaking out all last Friday about this trip. Sure, it was a little disorganized but I can't believe how much stress some people add to their lives by making things more stressful than they need to be. People had spent their Sunday researching and planning for this trip and even losing sleep over it! In observing all this, I realized that watching them stress out actually made me stressed out. Just listening to them made things more confusing to me and so on Friday while many gathered to discuss it, I opted to just not get involved. Perhaps I am more familiar with Vancouver than some of the other teachers, which is a plus, but to be honest, I didn't really go to great lengths to plan this trip. I got a map and I was good to go! haha. This morning I bought a new worship album on itunes and I was set for the bus ride to Vancouver- stress free! As it turns out, I really believe that people can sense when others are calm and they gravitate to them. I know I would rather be around someone who is calm than someone who is freaking out. Subsequently, people were drawn to me today (the lady who hadn't researched Vancouver!). There I was at several points leading my group and 4 or 5 other groups through Vancouver! WHAT? How did that happen? Back to the picture, "Keep Calm and Carry On!" So true. I look back on the day and just have to chuckle because they put me in a place of leadership simply because I kept calm.

Let peace reside with me.

 

 Be understanding. Be Patient. Be Flexible. Be Confident.Be Calm.

 

Be yourself!