Sunday Night With John: When You Run Into Your Past

My past client and I pose for a picture after my talk. 

This day was all about my future. I was public speaking at the 29th Risky Business Conference in a break out session in Ames, Iowa on the Campus of Iowa State University.  I have never spoken in Ames before, so I was breaking ground in a new area. Every conference I get the opportunity to speak at means being in front on of an audience that might want to bring me into their community.  I went over my notes the night before to ensure I was prepared and I woke up early Tuesday morning confident I would grow my public speaking a little larger today.

On the drive to Ames, we stopped to fill up on gas and I posted on my facebook page, “On my way to speak at a conference in Ames.” Once I arrived, I got all checked in and attended the keynote and compared his talk to mine as I watched. I didn’t talk until the end of the day so after the keynote I headed off to attend a break out session. I was excited to learn from all of the speakers of the day before I took my turn at spreading and teaching my message, “Share Emotions, Emotions Matter.” My phone buzzed before the session started and I checked it.  It was a past client that I had helped years earlier. She replied to my facebook post, asking me if it was the Risky Business Conference that I was speaking at. I replied that yes, it was and she stated that she was there too.

All the sudden my past was leaking into my future. I relished the opportunity to run into a past client and see how she was doing. During the lunch break we ran into each other, and she is now 20 years old. She was working with at-risk youth and told me I had such a big impact on her life.  My talk was coming up in an hour and half was the furthest thing from my mind. As we chatted and caught up, she was proud to share that she was in college planning to go into the human services field.  I invited her to come to my talk, which she stated was full.  I told her I would squeeze her in, the perks of knowing the speaker. She walked away and then I over heard her telling people to go to my session because it will be great. I smiled, as I know I left an impact on her life if she was willing to tell others to attend my session.

The time approached for my session. I got to my room and began to arrange the room so I felt comfortable.  My past client walks in smiling and states she asked the conference organizers if she could introduce me. She explained to the organizer that I helped change her life and she would love the opportunity to let everyone know a little about me.  I was overcome with joy knowing that she felt I helped changed her life and was so proud that she took action and wanted to share it with others. She was attempting to return the favor.

She read my intro about speaking with at-risk youth, adults and numerous other organizations over the last 9 years and then states, “ One another note, John personally helped changed my life around by caring about me years ago, and I couldn’t be happier today to introduce him to you.” Now I’m holding back tears from my past before I attempt to move into my future. 

On a day where I was solely focused on moving my message and mission forward, my past tapped me on the shoulder and gave me the greatest reminder of why I work to change lives. Every once in a while I get the proof I need that I’m doing it right. That’s the thing about how we treated people in our past, it will always come around again.  Whether it’s our reputation or literally when we walk into someone from our past. How we get greeted by our past says a lot about who we are now and where we are going. I may have been stepping into my future but my past showed up and told me I have been going about things the right way.