Impacting Change
Mental Health Roundtable at LBM Strategies Conference 2022
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a leader. I was always selected as the group representative, speaker, presenter, you name it. I knew it meant people trust me and I have to respect the trust they put in me but I didn’t fully understand how my simple way of sharing and being was being perceived.
Sure I’ve received promotions, pay increases, and thank yous from bosses but I always felt like I was just doing my job. Making sure we were compliant, employees were having their needs met, and all the typical HR stuff was good to go. Over the years I’ve given presentations and taught classes and as a person who loves to teach, I hoped, but never knew if any of what I was saying was actually making a difference. Was I just another HR person talking at people but not resonating with them?
That all changed recently. After many years being almost exclusively behind the scenes, I was given an opportunity to be on stage with an amazing group of brilliant, passionate, and caring professional women. We shared all the knowledge we could in the time we were given to our primarily female audience. We told stories about education, networking, knowing your worth and a million other things. All shared with under a theme that we are not alone and let’s support each other. I was also lucky enough to have this same group of women join a roundtable I was hosting about mental health. Participants were told they are enough. They are better than the imposter syndrome, better than the bad manager, better than negative words they use to describe themselves.
Then something beautiful happened…..
In the days that followed I’ve received text messages, emails, and in some cases I was cornered (in a really sweet way but I wasn’t expecting it).
All of the messages were thank yous but so much more. We inspired women to think bigger. To take a chance on themselves and their abilities. We inspired growth. We inspired curiosity. We inspired getting out of horrible jobs and in a couple cases, horrible relationships.
It takes but one moment to be kind enough to share the lessons you’ve learned to empower others around you.
You may not think anyone is listening but they are. Even if it was just one person that we helped find their voice, I would feel like we make a difference over the course of those few hours on a random Wednesday.
And as I sit at the airport to head home I have tears in my eyes because I know that I made a difference. And more importantly- they made a difference in my life too. They empowered me to keep going, keep sharing, keep learning, keep saying yes to the scary things.
Thank you to everyone that joined us. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories. Thank you for being brave and asking for support. You are why I do what I do and you cannot imagine the pride I feel knowing we’re in this crazy thing called life together.
