I've had a number of things I wanted to be when I grew up starting with an Actor, then a Florist, and back to an Actor, then to an Olympian who would ride/compete in the 1994 Summer games on my horse who was in no way, shape, or form that calibre of horse, a cake decorator, and back to an actor. Yes, I always wanted to be an actor so when I turned 30 I started to take acting classes and became a working actor. Let's be clear, that is a far cry from a famous actor, a working actor is one who makes a paycheck here and there from auditioning A LOT, and booking a job once in a while. Through all these life experiences I found a love of writing, storytelling, and speaking. One of my orange roads in life has been the road to public speaking. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to speak at a women's expo in Sacramento and wouldn't you know, it was another defining moment in my life. It was a moment when I had to walk my talk and follow through in a really uncomfortable situation. Here's the short story...
The first lesson that I learned is something my public speaking mentor talks about at length and that is naming your speech. Mine was titled, “Let’s Be Frank. How to have tough talks with confidence and ease.” All that was printed on the program was, “Let’s Be Frank.” As if people not fully knowing what to expect from me wasn’t enough, the woman who was speaking before me brought in a full-scale Hollywood production crew to record her talk. We had a very strict 30 minute time limit and she spoke for 50 minutes And then her crew seemed to be in no rush to break down the sound and lighting equipment for me to speak after her. Needless to say, for the couple of people that were in my room waiting for me, they got to see me in action have a tough talk with two grown men. I very directly, though kindly told them that they needed to move their equipment out of the room and break it down in the hallway. I was not the last speaker of the day, however, to the two people that were in the room with me (both people I know) I delivered my speech as if it were to a packed house. “Thank you, thank you very much!”
I’m sure the title of my speech on the program in addition to all of the activity outside the door of my room contributed to me having nobody from the expo hear me speak. However, I am not one to cry over empty chairs. This is going to make an epic story in 10 years when I have a gazillion speaking engagements under my belt. I’m going to be able to talk about the day nobody showed up to hear me speak and yet I spoke anyway! LOL!
Those detours in life, when we find ourselves traveling a road we didn't plan to take, I call those the Orange Roads, the roads that we would never plan when taking a trip because they are not the direct route. I don't know that I know anyone who has set out to just travel where the road takes them, to purposefully travel without a destination in mind, or at the very least, a timeline for when the trip will end. As I've grown and paid more attention to the little things in life, I can see that there need not be a destination or even a timeline for a journey, that to just pick up and go somewhere is a wonderful idea. The roads in life that are not the planned route may not be the shortest, they likely will not be less expensive, and they may or may not be the most scenic. What I have discovered is that they are almost always the roads that will take us to our dreams. ~ Kathy P.
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