Life + Guest Post + Ted Talks = Changing the World

Hello all, today my friend Rebekah has graciously agreed to do my work for me :).  I asked Rebekah because I knew she would say nice things about me.  Hahaha, not really, she is a very wonderful young woman and when I lived behind her I was always impressed with her maturity and inner light. So watch one of Bek's favorite Ted talks and then enjoy her insight, and check out her blog Stay tuned for my next post about Cal's birthday and Austin's Boy Scout Extravaganza!!


TED TALK

I’ve always wanted to change the world, and still do, but have frequently talked myself out of getting my hopes up. The world is a big place after all, and maybe I can do some nice things, but I shouldn’t get disappointed when I’m not of the great leaders who change it. But when you see the world way Drew Dudley observes it in his talk, ANYONE can change the world, and even define it. If we’re influencing the people around us, we must be aware of what kind of leaders we are being; we must not be afraid of being noticed, and of being good. Think of all the incredible things we may unknowingly do, just by being ourselves.

I suppose a guest post isn’t necessarily designed to recognize the blog’s blogger, but I think Nicole is a wonderful example of everyday leadership. She has become someone I trust, and I love to hear her share stories and to soak up all the wisdom she has to offer me! There are other people in my life that I also see as everyday leaders and they don’t realize it. All the simple good things people do all around the globe impress me.

The other day I was sitting in Madrigals.  We were rehearsing the Star Spangled Banner, at the climax of the song, the first sopranos sing an impressive high note-you know that part of the national anthem-and our director decided he didn’t want all three of us singing that note because it was too loud. So he asked us each to sing it alone for him twice and then decide what he wanted. This probably doesn’t seem like a very big deal to many of you, and looking back now, it definitely was not as colossal as my mind was trying to make it seem in the moment. I decided, “Hey, what choice do I have? Worse-case scenario my voice gives out, or I crack in front of the director and entire choir, but at least I wasn’t singing it acapella and it wasn’t in front of the entire student body.” (This was actually unusually reasonable logic for me to apply in this situation.) I tried to act like I didn’t care and I was all cool with singing that note by myself in public, but inside, my nerves were trying relentlessly to get me to back out. Well, I sang it, and the first time my worse-case scenario came true, but it wasn’t as horrifying as I expected. Maybe we laughed, perhaps someone made a joke, I don’t remember exactly, I just remember deciding I’d shake it off because I’d just have to sing it again after K had her chance to try it out. And fortunately the second run-through went excellently. As we sat down one of my friends turned to me and said, “Nice job! I could never do something like that-I’d get too nervous,” which is when it occurred to me: “I don’t do things like this every day. I’m usually the one commending someone else’s bravery, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind until now.”

I thought of this story as I re-watched the everyday leadership TED talk in preparation for this post, because it reminds me of when he says that we make leadership something bigger than us. What I did in choir the other day (as small and insignificant as it really is when a person puts the whole thing into perspective), is something I usually regard as bigger than me. Auditioning, interviewing, trying-out, etc. for anything makes me extremely nervous, in fact I may have an easier time performing than auditioning, but everything just happened as it did, and before I knew it-it was over and I’d managed to maintain minimal nervousness! Maybe it’s because the experience happened so fast, or maybe( I hope) it’s because we as human beings are growing and becoming better all the time. Either way, it supports Drew Dudley’s claim that leadership isn’t bigger than us; it is a part of us. It is simple; but it isn’t small.