A Story About Showing Up

Dear Living and Giving Readers,

I love to be open about what happens when we have a choices to show up at an event — or not.  Below is voicemail I left my team, encouraging them to show up — even when you don’t feel like it. There is a plan of good in store. Don’t miss it! 🙂

Read on to hear what happened when I kept a commitment — that I didn’t feel like keeping!

(Associated Press Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer)

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Confidential Voicemail to UniversalGiving Team

Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 8:01 PM

Hi Team, I just wanted to share a fun story of encouragement.

I am on the Duke Northern California board; it’s important that we go to events. I wasn\’t able to find any one of my friends to go to the event with me tonight, and I thought,

“Gosh, I don’t really want to go to this by myself.”

But I thought, I committed. I’ve always said to myself, when I commit, I’m going to do my best to show up.

So I just show up to share joy, smile, and cheer the Duke game on. It was a great Duke game!   At the end, I came in a little bit closer to the screens to hear the interviews because it had been a very inspiring game.

As I was next to the bar, this woman struck up a conversation with me. It turns out that we both had lived in LA. She had not gone to Duke, but she had gone to Wellesley, and my mom had gone to Wellesley!  We had both played tennis seriously. Then, I found out we both work at non-profits. She works at Hands On Bay Area, which has so many wonderful volunteer opportunities in San Francisco.

I said, “We’re global, and we’re expanding into the U.S. and San Francisco.”

She says, “We’d love to help you!”

So she’s going to come by our office and then we’ll partner to get her registered in UniversalGiving. Hands on Bay Area is prolific—it’s been around for 14 years, since 2004. HandsOn is part of the Points of Light network, with locations in 250 cities across 37 countries. They can list volunteer opportunities.

(HandsOn Bay Area, February 2016)

So the next time “you don’t feel like going,” you might want to show up.  You might meet a new partner, a new friend a new something. And, remember to have fun!

Show Up while You’re Living and Giving,

Pamela