And I went into this event, as adults do, filled with the wisdom and whimsy I was going to pass along to these youngsters. The universe (you knew this was coming, right?) had another plan for me. It was only thirty minutes. A dozen or so slides. A presentation of my story as an artist. And everything went according to plan...until the drive home. I was replaying the event in my head, looking for areas of improvement for next time when I was overwhelmed with tears. Happy tears, grateful tears, but tears, nonetheless. I've told my story before - in soundbites and elevator speeches, captions and quick paragraphs, in interviews and blog posts and workshops. But never before as a story beginning with Once Upon a Time... It was the first time I vocalized my own fairytale, in the third person, from start to finish in the whimsical style of my very own creations. It was magical... these kiddos gave me the enormous gift of listening, participating and applauding. And I felt like Cinderella, magically transformed into the person I really already was! Public speaking isn't something we normally consider a gift. More like a Herculean task to be conquered with shaking knees. But the opportunity to tell our story is a HUGE gift - one that has the power to influence others and to transform ourselves. In this month of exchanging gifts, I am so grateful to have received this one. It will go into one of my joy pockets! Online Visual Journaling in 2017!
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