Celebrating milestones punctuates our journey through life. Recently my home club Meadowvale Toastmasters celebrated my DTM. It is 38 years from the start of my Toastmasters journey.
My Toastmaster’s journey started in 1986 when my husband and I were getting ready to start our journey as a married couple and I joined Toastmasters so I could give a speech at my wedding. When the opportunity to be VP of Education came up I took advantage of it and moved up to President. Soon Toastmasters didn’t fit into our lives as we started a business, and added two children to our family.
We all have to juggle the important things in our lives and sometimes we have to choose what to keep juggling and what to set down. Toastmasters, writing, and art were three of the things I set down as we got into the heavy lifting of children and work. Years went by when I didn’t read for pleasure except bedtime stories like I’ll Love You Forever and Goodnight Moon.
Life became filled with ballet, piano lessons, soccer, cheerleading, and all things pertaining to kids and work. It was a wonderful, busy time. Kids grow up and our time becomes our own again. Art and writing came back into my life, and in 2016 so did Toastmasters.
I started again with my icebreaker, after all thirty years is a long time between speeches. When I reached ten speeches in the old program the Pathways Program came in, and those of us on the old path had two years to complete our DTM. I didn’t want that kind of pressure so I started the Pathways program and began my third attempt on my Toastmaster journey.
So here I am, in November it will be eight years since I joined Meadowvale. I rejoined Toastmasters in 2016 because I was thinking about self-publishing a novel I’d been writing for years and thought if anyone puts a microphone in front of me I need to be articulate and have something to say.
Being part of a group of people who are looking to elevate their lives gave me the courage to elevate my life by self-publishing my first novel in 2020, followed by a second novel and two children’s books. Once we make a change in one area of our lives we will have the courage to make changes in other areas of our lives.
When I completed my application for my DTM, I received a response regarding my club leadership roles in 1987/88. They asked if I could contact the woman who was VP of Education when I was President. I told them she was a grandmother then. I did suggest I know Paul Daniel who was a member of Trillium Toastmasters when I was President. When they asked for a letter from him he generously complied. I was happy to learn he was the current president and my application for DTM was put through.
If our success in any endeavor is dependent on our ability to communicate, is there any better place to hone our communication skills and become articulate than Toastmasters?
In any given moment we have two options: To step forward into growth or step back into safety. Abraham Maslow
One of the things I’ve learned from life and Toastmasters is: Our current situation does not have to be our final destination. Who we are today is not who we have to be in the future.
It is never too late to set a new goal, or dream a new dream, until it is. Our next ten years will go by whether we do anything or not. We will be changed by what we do, and what we read. It is our choice to move forward into change or step back into safety, but safety is not where the adventure lies.
You can find my blog at belyndasbooks.com
Created by Belynda Thomas DTM, Meadowvale Toastmasters