Laura Boone

Transcript

imagine yourself in front of the room all eyes are on you you're a little bit nervous your hands are shaken because you have exactly 30 minutes to prove to the entire company that the plan you've been working on for months is good to go and don't worry about it you've done some prep you have practiced with your boss you practiced with your friends your dogs won't even come in the room anymore because you have talked to them so many times about this presentation right and all of your presentation practice has paid off because you are killing it like as you're out there Talking Heads Are

nodding people are smiling it's all the good things that you expect to happen and about 20 minutes in you take a breath and you're taking a sip of water and your boss comes in and says three simple words that you will never ever forget what is this said with such dis dis gust and disdain that you actually cringe and as he began to chew my ass over every single thing that was wrong with this presentation with the details with the data I just shrunk into a puddle of just you know that shame and deception my moment of Triumph turned into defeat it was horrible now

that would suck for anybody right but let me tell you why it sucked even more for me okay because this presentation and this job had come on the heels of an absolutely devastating divorce one that like really truly almost ended me if you've been there you know what I'm talking about and this was supposed to be my like independent woman rising from the ashes type thing you know and as you can tell based on this it was clearly anything but and the reality was I wasn't that surprised cuz my boss this wasn't the first time he' done that he was what we could nicely call

a bully he was great at many things but man he wasn't nice and I was a bully's dream because I was a people pleaser all I wanted to do every decision I made every action I took everything I did and thought of throughout the day was designed to make you like me and I had been so good at it for so long but for some reason it was failing me now I had tried it in my work I had tried it in my personal life I had tried it in my marriage I had tried it with friends and it wasn't working and so I figured

you know this blow at work was the time that it was time to take a look at what exactly was happening right and so I took a look around and then I took a look inside and you know what I didn't like what I saw because basically there was nothing there you see I had spent so much time in my life making other people happy that I'd forgotten to ask myself what I wanted and what was important to me and I thought of the people out there the kick ass badasses out there that I knew who who wouldn't have sat in that meeting and let

that happen they would have stood up for themselves and they would have won or they would have at least gone down punting and fighting right and I realized that they knew something that I didn't it was that there was an element of choice they could choose what they allowed in their life and what they didn't and I didn't know that up until then but man as Gloria steum once said the truth will set you free but first it'll what piss you off right and so I knew I was going in the right direction because me and I was pissed I was so so pissed and

I was pissed at myself because I had allowed all this to happen nobody had told me that I was a people pleaser or that I needed to be one I had decided it for myself and so I thought about could I change could I be a badass like my Aunt who even when she was in the throws of terminal cancer always encouraged me to be exactly who I wanted to be and do what was best for me and so I thought you know what could I do it could I could I make these choices could I stand up for myself and I quit the job

right I quit the job and so when I quit the job man it was a bad idea at first because I was terrified okay it sucked but you know what it also it was also the most free I have ever felt in my entire life because for once I was finally making decisions for myself I was making the decision that for example I was here talking to all of you with nine other amazing people sharing their stories of triumph over adversity right and every day now since I quit that job I get to talk to people about it it I get to talk to people

about making these choices and I love every minute of it because what I get to do is tell them you know what you can make the choice and they say Laura I can't go and quit my job I can't quit my job at all and I say you know what you can't quit your job but what you can do is make a small step you could take a small step into loving something new you could take a small step away from something that doesn't work for you and you can make that choice and in it you can find the most Freedom that you have ever

felt in your entire life and doesn't that sound like it's worth it what do you guys think let's do it let's make a choice to choose Freedom over fear and make it an amazing day

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.