Page 12 - 2019 April

TRANSCENDING YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Handling the Flood
John Rodke, DTM - District Director
I hope you and your community are safe
and recovering from our recent flooding. The
torrents of water flowing through, and some-
times overflowing, our beautiful rivers reminded
me of the saying: “It’s like drinking water out
of a firehose!” This is a common experience of
information overload when we try something
new, and when life sends a plethora of growth
opportunities our way. In Toastmasters, we get
the chance to practice how we handle these situ-
ations when they arise.
On a cold Friday morning during the “snow-
pocalypse” in Eugene, our club was locked out of
our meeting space. Instead of panicking or being
too discombobulated, the frosty club went a few
blocks away and had a meeting in a coffeehouse.
We were thrown a snowball, adjusted, and had
a great meeting with a new member joining
because she was impressed with our ability to
adapt. A powerful mantra that goes along with
the firehose saying is: “If you aren’t falling, you
aren’t trying hard enough.”
12 ONE COMMUNITY
Leadership and Communication are the two
pillars of Toastmasters. These are exemplified
within our leaders and contestants this year. Both
sets of brave volunteers have stepped out of their
comfort zones and into their growth zones, it has
been so cool to see them succeed, but also to fail.
The look on a leaders face when they have that
reflective “aha” moment after messing up, or a
contestant who receives 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place
for their speech, is inspiring and an honor to
behold. You can see the internal dialogue (some-
times really brutal, yet enlightening), then the
self-awareness, followed by the joy of learning
(sometimes accompanied with a rueful smile),
and finally, the calm and collected determination
to do better next time. I believe this is how life
provides us our most valuable lessons. Wisdom
and understanding are hard-earned.
A huge shout out of thanks to our leaders and
contestants who have stepped up this year, failed
a bit, and grown through the process. You are
what make this organization thrive, and improve