18/03/2024
You never know if it's good or bad for you.
There are breakthrough moments in life, both in the positive and negative sense, e.g. a promotion at work or being fired from a job, the birth of a child or the death of a loved one.
One of the turning points in my life was joining the Toastmasters International over 5 years ago. I then decided to improve my public speaking skills. Each such situation was extremely stressful for me and my intention was to control the feeling.
The basic part of the learning process in Toastmasters is to implement educational projects with the preparation and public delivery of a speech and collecting feedback from your audience.
After completing over 100 such projects, I can categorically say that I am a poor public speaker. I can't prepare well for the speech I am giving, I forget the order of issues that I am supposed to cover during the presentation, and I often get lost in my own thoughts.
Does this mean that 5 years were simply thrown away? Of course not!!!!
When thinking about Toastmasters, many people only visualize a speaker on stage. But this organization is more than that. The main strength of this organization is not educational paths. For me, its greatest value and driving force are PEOPLE.
During my Toastmaster trip, I met plenty of people, the vast majority of whom were there to - like me - get out of their little boxes and spread their wings to fly. Very often, they drive and inspire me to do something more every day than just the daily: "get up-eat-work-home-bath-sleep".
It is together with them that I have created a large network of contacts that result in mutual assistance in emergency situations.
Example: I received the attached certificate due to a sudden shortage of judges for the Toastmasters inter-club speech contest. A few days before the event, I wrote to about 200 of my friends - experienced Toastmasters members - asking if they could support us as judges during the contests.
Effect: after just 2 days we had a full panel of judges.
This is the magic of support. Soon someone will ask me for help, I will gladly do it, because I know that it will come back to me multiplied.
You never know if it's good or bad for you.
At Toastmasters I learned that I would probably not be a speaker who had the audience hanging on every word.
But I don't have to be the best to be happy and fulfilled. What brings me happiness, among other things, is cooperation with this developing and supportive community. I find fulfillment in many life situations and new ideas and projects, both within and outside the Toastmasters organization.
It is difficult for me to list all the people who have stood by my side many times in need to solve a problem together. Therefore, I hereby send a huge THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all of you. :)
P.S. Next time when I wrote to you with the assistance request, don't be irritated with: "Oh no! That Cwiek wants something from me again."
And of course, don't hesitate to contact me and ask for support.