Lisa Tilson

I’m not one to voluntarily step out of my bubble. I know this is a peculiar thing for someone who writes a blog about her life journey, and is desparately trying to get a podcast off the ground, but its true. I don’t mind going to new things with an accomplice, but alone… I get a little nervous. My body even goes as far as to manifest strange “emergencies” right before I have to catch a bus to get somewhere new. I suspect that this runs in my family, as my grandfather Hislop often was found in the “can” right as everyone had their coat and boots on. Why, I ask, was I gifted with such an endearing family traite?

What do I do to challenge my inner little old lady with nervous bowels? I mock her! I try new things at unpredictable intervals, never allowing her to get to comfortable.. This time, I decided it is time to check out Toastmasters. I went to great lengths to prevent myself from preventing myself to go. Yesterday, I announced publicly (to my husband) that I would be going to a Toastmasters meeting, that way there would be no getting out of it. Sure enough, today, like clockwork, I found myself ready to go, yet not ready to go, if you know what I mean. Unbeknown to my body - I had planned to take an early bus, and I got my coat on early, so as to trigger any last minute complications beforehand. Heh. I’m sure that will only work once, and luckily, I can only go to a toastmasters meeting for the first time, once.

To be honest, my first impression of the Toastmasters folks was not what I expected.. Admittedly, I expected to find entrepraneurs and new corporate CEO’s sitting smugly in silky suits, chatting in a shallow manner and “gesturing” eradically with their hands and voice. Instead, I walked into a room of people definately twice as old as me, and in one case, just over three times my age. I was greeted at the door by this 86 year old man, typically jewish, fabulous fuzzy, out of control, white hair and beard with his pants properly pulled up past his belly button. He graciously took me to the seat beside him and explained in detail how it all works. The rest of the group casually introduced themselves to me, were very friendly, and not shallow in the least.

I enjoyed the meeting immensely, mainly because it was so efficient and usefull. Everyone was a different levels of perfection, and the best word to describe the process is clockwork. There are lights and bells to indicate timing, and when your time is up, you shut up and clear the podium, mid sentense or no. No one talks longer than they are allowed, each person gets the time they deserve, everyone is still awake when the meeting ends - on time! The little jewish man pointed out to me after the meeting that one becomes annoyed with the way other people communicate, if only everyone could be so efficient in their communication - boy can I relate, I regularly ramble on with out having entirely planned the end of what I’m saying!

Speaking of which, I was encouraged to do a “table topic”, which I did and was evaluated accordingly. I was a little sweaty, and a little fidgity, but I only used the superlative “like” once, which is rare for my normal speech, so I felt good. The evaluator decided that I deserved to have the “best table topic of the day”cup, and weather that was designed to seal the deal for me or not, I’m in. I’m excited to see its effect on my writing style and my podcast over time.  Now if only I could get paid for talking…