Two years ago, I joined Toastmastes and attended meeting nearly every week. Now, I seldom come to Toastmasters. what happened?
One day, my friend told me that, Rev, I noticed that you've joined toastmasters for two years，but you are not famous.Many people don't know who you are. And I analyzed the reason for you. Before I tell you the reasons, I want to ask you a question, what's your goal in Toastmasters?
（ah，er）I don't know how to answer because I never think about this question. And then, she said, see, this is your problem. Firstly, you don't have a specific goal in TM. Some people came here for speech champion, when they achieved it, they left. Some people came here for DTM, when they achieved it, they left. Some people came here for finding boyfriend or girlfriend, when they achieved it, both of them left. So, if you have a goal here, you can grow faster. Secondly, you are lack of personality. You are too ordinary to let others remember you especially there are a lot of females in TM.
Em...Sounds reasonable. Maybe my goal is become famous here.I must do something to let people recognize me. So when people came to ask me, Rev, would you like to be District PR？Rev, would you like to be a area director for half a year? Rev, would you like to be project manager? Rev...I always said yes!of course!definitely! But then, I realized I devoted too much time here, and forgot about my own priority. That's not right. Being famous is not what I want. And I also don't care about the title, I don't care about being an officer in a higher level. All I want is to have a wonderful time with everyone in the meeting.For me, toastmasters is just like a platform where I can make friends, share opinions and have fun. So, why goals? we have already set a lot of goals in life and work, it's time to have a rest and enjoy your time in TM. Everyone come here with different reasons. We cannot judge others just because they have different opinions with us. The world is full of diversity. We need to respect others,seek common ground and reserve differences.
When I realized this, I was relieved about not setting goals. And I looked back to the past two years, my toastmasters journey without goal was still interesting and amazing. I've been PR assistant, VPE and president, held anniversary party, went to conference and most importantly, make friends with you, which is most precious gift for me and beyond my expectation.
But this journey was not always smooth. I've experienced four periods in the past two years. The first period is curiosity, then lost enthusiasm, then devoted(and this period lasted for nearly one year) and after that lost enthusiasm again.
It is just like life. Life is full of ups and downs, so is everyone's toastmasters. When you are full of energy about it, try you best to experience as much as you can. When you lose enthusiasm, take some rest, maybe someday you will come back again.
Two years ago，I started my toastmasters journey here, two years later, I come back and restart it with pathways.
（Pathways-icebreaker）