So, I'm off to Victoria to the Western Canada Book Fair..or something like that.
I have to give another speech.
I've shared that it's not, well, my best talent in life.
I was so bummed out last time, that I had blown my speech.
I shared this with a friend from my hotel room in Toronto.
She sent me this note back, and I thought I would share it with you.
Kim I hope you don't mind, but I will save this speech for the rest of my life.
I'm not sharing to make myself sound 'wonderful' or brag about how fabulous I am.
I'm sharing to inspire you or anyone you know who in those 'big' moments ...stumble.
The words of my dear friend Kim Christie:
You didn't "blow" the speech.
What you did is fail to contort yourself into a vision of what you … and
you alone … deemed to be an appropriate and "good" speaker. But
you're not a speaker … you're a wholesome artist, a mom, a friend … a real,
live girl! :)
What's happening on the internet right now … and I mean, like, ALL OVER THE
WORLD … is that even experienced "speakers" are pointing a camera at
themselves and just blathering away on the front porch. Because it's more
honest. More real. People connect with you more when you are
absolutely authentic. And you're not a statesman. You're a
beautiful, fresh, ADORABLE crazy creative Full-of-Love-and-Goodness farm girl.
You're honest and unguarded and unpracticed. There's nothing
complicated or conniving or controlling in your world … and that's what people
are ACHING for right now. The polished perfection and contrivances are
driving the world mad. Everywhere the veneer is cracking. Because
we all want it to. Because every last one of us is sick to death of
pretending to be someone we are not. So your speech was perfect.
You were absolutely you … unsure, a bit overwhelmed by all the fanfare,
tripping it up a bit … in other words, Positively CHARMING.
You're trying to "impress" a room full of people who wish like crazy
that they were YOU! They want to be young and lithe and uncomplicated.
They want to swing in the sunshine and run laughing out of a shabby shack
chasing a precious and perfect Lily. They want to be able to whip up
apple pie on a whim, from scratch, without a recipe. Every single person
in that room got a taste of someone laughing, someone hesitant, maybe flustered
… and they were hooked IMMEDIATELY. Because you are absolutely Real and
absolutely Perfect. No one who meets you, or sees anything at all that
you've ever created, or visits your farm or drops into your blog … doesn't fall
IMMEDIATELY in love with you. The only thing you can do to mess that up
is train and contort yourself into being a polished persona. They're a
dime a dozen and everybody's sick of that.