Don't Be Shy

A friend nominated me to speak at the International Speaker Forum at the San Diego State University. After reviewing my bio, the program coordinator called earlier this week to 'interview' me to see how there can be a fit. She said that they only invite 'experts' on topics of 'current global issues'. So I shared my viewpoint that global stress levels are growing at an alarming rate and the consequences can be felt on several fronts including personal health, social 'toxicity' and the environment.

We discussed some stats like divorce rates in the US have climbed to 50% of all marriages and girls from broken homes are 3 times more likely to become teenage mothers while their boys are twice as likely to end up in jail. Then, she said what is your 'call to action'. I said do nothing. She was quite perplexed and said "but all our speakers ask us to do something, like call your congressman, recycle more, etc". I said, "yes, my message is to take time to do nothing". At that point she sounded like this was a lost cause and asked me to submit an abstract for review by the board. I did, and to my surprise I got a response back the next day that it was accepted!

Lesson learnt from this episode - Don't be shy of spreading the light, no matter how ridiculous people think you are :)