It feels crazy typing this, but I recently had my first opportunity to present in person in FOUR YEARS to a group of real-life humans at Tobacco Prevention University. The organizers did a great job envisioning and achieving the school theme, complete with a science lab where participants engaged in an activity going through an actual workplan, extra credit pre-conference readings, computer lab to learn about all the important websites, and energetic orientation leaders to guide everyone through the journey introducing them to the world of California Tobacco Prevention. TCEC presented alongside our fabulous colleagues from Rover and TECC as the three of us formed the Library panel.

 

Now, I have an interesting relationship with presenting in a professional setting. Like many people, I was terrified in my early required communications classes in college. This continued for years into my career.  Then, eventually, I ended up in a job where I had to present—a lot. And like most fears, the more I was exposed, the more comfortable I became. THEN, I got my current job as an evaluation associate at TCEC.   Here I discovered that because I loved talking about what I do, I am not just comfortable with presenting. Still, I actually kind of love getting up in front of a big group of people and talking about evaluation. 

 

So why am I telling you all of this? To give you context as I describe to you how happy (and not in the least nervous or concerned) I was to accept this speaking request and prepare my presentation.  Because something weird happened right before I went up to present in my assigned panel. I felt nervous. And when I got up to present, I didn’t feel happy and relaxed but rather sped through my notes so I could sit down again. What happened? It appears presenting (and probably general human interaction) is one of those use-it-or-lose-it skills.

 

So, I left with two takeaways:

I am going to let this serve as a reminder to be gentle with ourselves and recognize that living in “unprecedented times” will take its toll on us in some ways. And that’s ok. The world keeps shifting and we will shift with it. Sometimes, you might find yourself struggling through something that was once easy.  Let it push you to regain that ease, but don’t let it discourage you. It is ok to acknowledge that you are changing just as the world around us keeps changing.