It feels like ages since I’ve blogged and I’ve missed it. Much of my work time has gone into preparing my presentation for the Today’s Modern Women of Faith conference (3 more sleeps!).

I’ve prepared a presentation which I hope will bridge the gap between women of various faiths so we can come together and create a world that we all want for our kids. Thing is, I have a lot to say and only 20 minutes in which to say it! Keeping everything concise while still sharing a combination of stories and facts has been my greatest challenge. I’ve certainly learned about chopping and polishing my own work. And now I’m constantly rehearsing so I know my material well enough that I shouldn’t need to pause too much to think of what I’m saying. While also giving myself enough time to pause and let the audience absorb what I’m saying. It’s really pushing me to be a better speaker – I think that’s a good thing!

I’m looking forward to connecting with people who are really into this kind of thing. We all have to make choices on how we spend our time; the women who will be at this event truly value the voices of women and the causes we stand for. While I wish I was seeing more familiar faces in the crowd, I’ve learned that this is an opportunity to connect with new people who share my interests. And hopefully they’ll be the women I can look forward to seeing at other such events.

I’ve also learned that emailing people doesn’t seem to be the way to go anymore. (Maybe I’m the last person in the world to have learned this.) I thought emailing was a more personal way to reach out to people – vs. tagging someone on Facebook or just ‘putting it out there’ for whoever happens to catch it in their feed. I’ve noticed, though, that when I send out an email sharing information about an event, I don’t really hear back from many. For this particular conference, I emailed 34 women and heard back from 3. I haven’t figured out: is it the email platform, or the content, or am I coming across as spammy? I really hope it’s not the last thing. Maybe we’re all so used to getting email that that line of ‘from a friend’ vs. ‘from a company’ is blurred. In any case, I’m no longer going to reach out to friends via email when it comes to sharing events.

I think perhaps the most significant thing I have learned from this whole experience is that saying ‘yes’ to the things that push me out of my comfort zone for awhile actually makes me feel fulfilled. It’s not always comfortable to be who you are, to speak your truth, to try to affect change. I’m not sure that we came here simply to be comfortable all the time.

Hope all is well in your world! I’d love to hear about anything you’ve learned recently, or anything else you wish to share in the comments!

Thanks for reading!