Sunday Night With John: Elbow Nudge

“So John, what do you do,” she asked as we ate a delicious dulce de leche cheesecake.“Well, I work with at-risk youth and intellectually disabled adults. I’m also a public speaker in the Midwest and it’s growing,” I responded between bites of the cheesecake I’m hoping Anne finds the recipe for.“ Oh, you public speak?  What do you public speak about,” She asked. I explained that I lost my dad to a car accident when I was 14, and I witnessed my best friend’s death when I was 17. Needless to say I went through some mental health stuff and anger issues as a teen and...5 minutes later Anne is giving me the elbow nudge to stop talking. I asked her to do that about 9 months into dating because I can go on and on about mental health awareness, public speaking and helping others. The second I felt the elbow nudge I knew it was time to wrap up and I did just that.

…“And I’m going stop talking because if you can’t tell I’m going to go on and on about this. Once I get going I just can’t stop myself. I love talking about it, it’s my passion.” The room goes silent for a second before our host throws out another topic to talk about. I look at Anne and wink for pulling me out of my mental health passion abyss of talking points. I ‘m so fascinated by human emotions and can literally talk about it with other professionals, friends, family, strangers, or anybody all day long. I have on occasion, talked people out of the room as my passion ignites. People eventually want to move onto a different topic and I’m like a kid in a penny candy store with a million dollars.  Luckily I have Anne’s help to not alienate people with elegant queries, tangents, and diatribes about what makes us tick emotionally.

My passion started 10 years ago when my professor saw something in me.  He saw beyond my own emotional struggles and helped to channel my past into my passion.  My professor encouraged me to turn my life experiences into a talk, one that I would be required to give to a room full of educated professionals.  After this experience, I knew I had found my calling, speaking about emotional and mental health.

I consumed articles, attended conferences, and asked numerous questions to fuel my desire to understand my constantly unfulfilled appetite around emotional health. I haven’t worked a day since I started on this path. I gleefully choose everyday to continue an emotional journey that I started years ago with all of you.  My passion for it propels me forwards sometimes by leaps and bounds.  Other times, I trip and fall as I’m moving too fast for my own good. I’m in love with sharing speaking; chatting, conversing, and experiencing all the emotions life have to offer.  If you are around me and I’m going on and on, feel free to give me the elbow nudge, because without Anne around, it might be hard for me to stop. She understands that sometimes it’s too much for others.  Maybe one day I will find myself in a place where it’s too much for me but I just can’t turn off my passion, It’s too much fun.  Pull up a seat by me, I’ll tell you all about it.