I can’t believe I’m here right now! I started typing up these journals on February 1st and now it’s October 11th…my big day! In several hours I will be delivering my TED Talk titled “My month of silence.”

l’d like to say I’ve got no nerves, but my body would beg to differ. I couldn’t fall asleep last night to save my life! Finally fell asleep at 2am and my friend LeAnn woke me at 5:17am tapping on my window that it was time to run.

I set out to type the 414 pages of my journal by the day of my talk, not because I need to have it ready right now, but because I wanted a deadline. I do much better with deadlines. I not only got it typed, God gave me an intro and a conclusion and I’d feel confident sending it out to publishers.

I’ve come a long way in the past 9 months, learning and growing as a result of this “silly little month long challenge.” I’ll probably spend the rest of my life reaching out to women to encourage them with what I’ve discovered.

At almost midnight on Memorial Day, between 13-15 tornados hit the Dayton area, destroying homes barely three miles from me and leveling a whole community north of me. It’s at times like this that my natural thought is “but for the grace of God, it could have been me.” Not sure where that phrase came from, but I was thinking “Really Donna, but for the grace of God? He had grace on you but not on those other people?” Then I began to think “I’m thankful, but was it God’s grace that it didn’t hit me? Why would it not hit me?”

Matthew 5:45 says “Then you will be children of your Father who is in Heaven. He causes his sun to shine on evil and good people. He sends rain on those who do right and those who do not.”

None of us, whether following God or not are immune from the troubles of this life including pain, heartache, and even natural disasters. So when we are the one hit with tough times, I don’t think we can say “why me?” if we are not saying about all of our blessings “why me?”

“Why was I chosen to be born to parents who love and accept me unconditionally when other’s are born to drug addicted parents? Why do I have a non-leaky roof over my head, when others have no roof at all, and why I am I able to eat nutritious foods when kids in the slums of India are eating out of the city dump?”

I think it’s not fair to ask “why me?” about the bad stuff if you’re not also asking “why me?” about all that is good. Gratitude is the key to a joyful and fulfilled life.

Take a moment to start journaling about the positive “why me’s?” in your life!

Not sure if I mentioned it in my blog, but I applied to be a TEDX speaker this October 11th at the Victoria Theater in Dayton. About 200 applied and almost 50 were called for an audition. I was one of them. Out of those 50, only 13-14 will be chosen to share their story.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I practiced hard then spent the final hour before the audition belting out Francesca Battistelli’s “Breakup Song.” It says “I’m so done, so over being afraid. Fear you don’t own me. There ain’t no room in this story. I ain’t got time for you telling me what I’m not, like you know me, well guess what? I know who I am. I know I’m strong, and I am free. Got my own identity, so fear, you will never be welcome here!!”

Also looking for a boost of courage, I looked up quotes on courage. This one really spoke to me.

Back to the audition. For those of you wondering what the process looks like, there were 6 of us in my audition group last night and about 15 people from the committee. We had 3 minutes each to share our idea, and then the committee had a couple minutes to ask clarifying questions.

There was a timer. He said at 2.5 minutes I will raise my hand until you notice and at 3 minutes I will wave my hand around vigorously and stare at you uncomfortably until you stop talking. I noticed the hand at 2.5, and I have no idea what I said to wrap it up, but I feel like I told my entire story in less than 3 minutes.

After my time was up, several of the people I spoke with at the cafe information session asked questions, prompting me to share things I told them, like about Aaron, learning sign language and things like that.
I am honestly satisfied either way, that if given another opportunity to audition again, I don’t believe it could have gone better. Either this content is what they’re looking for, or it’s not.

What a relief to be done!  I will find out in the middle of June whether or not I was chosen. I believe they are taking so long because after they choose the 13-14 speakers from the almost 50 they auditioned, they need to select a mentor for each one and work out the logistics.  

For those of you that are sharing my journey, thank you for all your support and encouragement!