Posted by Anne

Over the past week, I have been inundated with inspirational messages.  I have been confronted, over and over, with some of life’s biggest existential questions regarding change, passion, and the chaos inherent in today’s world.  And no, I was not at a meditation retreat, or a live taping of Oprah.  I was at a conference. 

To be exact, I was at the “National Career Development Association” conference, in St. Louis, Missouri.  I work as a career counselor and coordinator of career development programming at a nearby University, and truth be told, I really like my work.  So I hopped on a Midwest-bound plane last week, eager to learn some new counseling tips. Instead, I was treated to an array of perky speakers who apparently have intimate knowledge of my deepest fears and concerns. 

There was “Annoyingly Accurate Speaker #1”, a woman with more energy than is remotely necessary in life.  She had flowing dark hair that had a life of its own, and she bounced around the front of the convention hall saying things like, “Everyone is a genius!  They simply must find the right context!”  She also recited career development poetry. 

And of course, there was “Frighteningly Honest Speaker #2”, a British bloke who I wanted to like (by the mere fact he had an accent).  But I was suspicious the second I looked at his presentation title, which had something to do with Chaos Theory.  I’m not a fan of chaos.  His golden nugget?  “Everyone tries to set goals too early.  You must go ahead and begin a path and start living something—before you know what the goal can be.”  You can set goals too early???

Oh, and let’s not forget Speaker #3, or “He Who Must Not Be Named Because He Challenges all That Seems Static and Stable”.  Now this guy was over the line.  He stood there in his linen blazer and wire-rimmed glasses and said, “Our lives are so familiar and routine to us that we rarely question them.  We only question the irrelevant edges of life, because we don’t want a true challenge to our self-determined storyline.”  Really?  You mean switching my Kashi selection this week from GoLean to Autumn Harvest doesn’t constitute real change?  

Did these people know about my blog?  Did someone bribe them to come torment me with their spot-on musings about life and the necessity of change?   Of course not.  But they certainly struck a chord.  Against my will, these folks inspired me.  I’m overwhelmed by the truth of their words.