Last September Rachel Mullen of Music City Suds contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in speaking at the Tennessee Soap and Candle Social. I said yes, and them promptly freaked out. Speaking in public is uncomfortable for me, but I know I need to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. So this past weekend I hopped on a plane and headed to Chattanooga to join 70 attendees and speakers.
Friday afternoon I helped Rachel set up the facility and at night Brooke St. Ant gave an amazing blending workshop. I went back to the hotel with my roomie Bethany and her daughter Savanna to get some sleep, we had a big day on Saturday.
Charlene Simon was the key note speaker, and much to my surprise, she spoke about learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I was up next and I was glad. I knew I’d be more relaxed once I was done, but following Charlene was tough! I stumbled over a few words and spoke a little too quickly. I wasn’t perfect, but I was good enough, and that’s now my new motto, to be good enough.
To finish out the conference, Bethany spoke about making candles, Holly Port spoke on hosting events, Kayla Fioravanti on Aromatherapy, and Roslyn Johnson on Live Streaming. Now Live Streaming was a topic that really made me uncomfortable. I don’t like the way I sound on video and going live is scary. What if I screw up? Sometimes I can really over think things, so Sunday morning at the Chattanooga airport I did my first Facebook Live, and it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was almost fun.
This weekend I learned that I wasn’t the only nervous speaker. In fact, pretty much all of us were. Any time you do something new, you’re going to be nervous. It’s difficult to break out of your comfort zone, but it’s necessary for growth. It’s important to push yourself to try new things. If you do something once or twice and it’s not for you, at least you tried. I’m grateful this week to Rachel for giving me the opportunity to speak at her conference.
What are you grateful for this week?
Yours in Gratitude,
Angela