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When You Work Entirely from Home, You Miss Moments Like This
A reminder the best moments in life involve being with humans
27 people from 21 different countries were frozen to their seats. Syrians. Costa Ricans. Russians. The only sign of life was the tears flowing down their cheeks. When they finally unthawed and could breathe again, the first thing they did was run to the woman standing in front of them.
She’d just done the bravest thing I’d ever witnessed.
Six weeks ago, I walked into a classroom for the first time in two years. The task: spend 25 hours over the next few weeks helping a group of shy MBA students step into their voice and own their stories.
I’ve done this kind of work before. But I was rusty. Zoomed-out. For the hour leading up to the first class, my mind was jumping and my palms were drenched with sweat.
But then the first student walked in. A 28-year-old from India. I liked her immediately. Warm demeanor. Her smile put me at ease.
Lebanese. Turkish. Scottish. Dutch. Brazilian. German. More new faces came piling in. “Would I be able to connect with them?” I worried. “Since when did graduate students look so damn young!”
The looks on their faces didn’t look nearly as welcoming though when I told them what we’d be covering each week. Persuasive writing. Interview skills. Networking. Storytelling. Culminating in giving a quick talk in front of the group.
Telling them they didn’t have to talk at all the first day while saying the only thing they had to do on the second day was stand up and say their name helped them to ease into it. The same goes for the fact that I stutter and have learned how to take the stage anyway and teach these skills for a living.
But as the classes passed, while some volunteered to be interviewed by the group, it was clear the pressure inside some of them with their impending talk was mounting. “There’s no way in hell I’m getting up in front of the class!” one woman said during a break half way through the course. “I care if you fail me. But I don’t care if you fail me!”
But something miraculous happened on the last day.
