Lauren Helmkay

Transcript

It was the year 2000 I was at the peak of my corporate career I had it all sciatic pain that seared down my leg a tick in my eye that just wouldn't go away I had fantasies of being just a small car accident that would put me in the hospital just for a few days so I could get some sleep I was living the dream we were working on a year 2000 project you remember the year 2000 where people stock piled food and water in anticipation of a computer induced apocalypse we had worked three long Relentless years on this project in at 700 a.m. out

as late as 2 a.m. in on weekends repeat repeat my team my team they walked the path to Hell beside me some of them had small children some of them were supporting aging parents how did they do it why did they do it and we did it we installed the state-of-the-art all the belt and whistles oh my God isn't it Grand system and we saved the world a week later my boss calls me into his office and I wait for my moment of glory and I will never forget his face when he turns and he says to me we're taking a new worldwide Direction the

system is obsolete enter complete burnout I realized in the weeks that followed that there was absolutely nothing the company could say or do or give to me that would make it were the stress the frustration the tears the long hours the complete annihilation of myself fast forward I'm in halberton Ontario Cottage Mecca and I'm on a 2year leave I'm in this quaint little cafe wide Pine boards under my feet and this Kaleidoscope of beautiful paintings on the wall and a big froy coffee just the way I like it and my journal and I had a thought I am more than a corporate executive I felt

the floor swallowing me whole and the building shaking at the sheer blasphemy of that thought and in the Stillness of that moment all I could hear was Bon Joi screaming in my head it's my life is now or never I ain't going to live forever I ain't got something it's It's My Life It's My Life Freedom comes in recognizing you always have Choice even when it seems like there are no options you can be mindful of your thoughts of your feelings you can go through life on autopilot or you can choose choose to make a choice when I left that job my team wrote me

a four page poem and there's a line in there that just Echoes In My heart still we'd arrive on Lauren's office all in a tatter relax she'd say calmly is this really what matters it's your life thank you

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