Five days after delivering a keynote address to 350 remarkable nurse leaders at the Florida Health Care Association Nurse Leaders Annual Conference in Bonita Springs, Florida, I am still basking in the exhilarating energy of the experience.
As someone with high standards, I devote a great deal of thought, creativity, and effort to ensuring that each presentation resonates with the conference theme and audience. It was a tremendous honor to inspire these frontline healthcare heroes, and I wanted to create a peak emotional experience—one filled with meaningful insights, heartfelt stories, and practical tools they could begin using immediately.
It’s often said that the fear of public speaking ranks right up there with the fear of death, heights, and even tax preparation! I’ve never understood the aversion to public speaking because whenever I’m leading a workshop or delivering a keynote, I am truly in my happy place.
The reason is simple: I am a passionary—a person driven by tremendous passion and action. I am energized by authentic, meaningful human connection.
My goal is to inspire people to take an active role in their own healing so they can experience greater physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. That’s why, on the night before my keynote, I found my way into the pitch-black ballroom and flipped on the light switch.
“Far out,” I exclaimed as I gazed at the 375 chairs arranged around 68 tables.
As I climbed the steps to the stage and took in the view, I imagined every chair filled with nurses seeking inspiration, acknowledgment, and practical wisdom. I spent the next hour walking from one end of the stage to the other, reviewing my notes and visualizing the experience. Although every story I share is drawn from my own life, I always rehearse my talks aloud several times. Preparation frees me to devote all of my energy to sharing positivity, openness, joy, and love with each person in the audience.
Repetition prevents us from getting tripped up by syntax and allows us to enter a state of flow. When we’re in flow, we become fully engaged and immersed in the activity at hand.
The next morning, as I looked out over a sea of smiling faces, I felt profound joy and excitement. It helped that I had started the day with a swim at 6:45 a.m., when no one else was around. Towering palm trees stood sentry over the pool as sunlight filtered through their sweeping fronds. After enjoying a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and getting a quick blow-dry, I placed 375 Soaringwords Inspirational Card Packages on the tables.
These card packages were my gift to the nurses who give the gifts of empathy, patience, compassion, and healing presence every day as they care for residents in hundreds of skilled nursing communities throughout Florida.
The next ninety minutes flew by.
Over the following three days, I gave and received hundreds of hugs as people shared their stories and told me what the keynote had meant to them. It is a tremendous gift to connect with others in deep and meaningful ways.
Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched—they must be felt with the heart.”
On Friday morning, two nurses who live in Miami Beach gave me a ride to my apartment, where I decamped for a few days of much-needed rest and relaxation. More on my R&R Strategic Plan in my next update.
Until then, I’m sending you strength and love.
Soaringwords is the power to heal.
