Michelle Obama: speaking from the heart

Yesterday I had a chance to attend the event I had been waiting for the whole month. I went to see and hear Michelle Obama. Live and real. It was not a concert or performance. It was not even an inspirational lecture or a well-prepared presentation. It was Michelle Obama sitting in a chair and casually sharing stories about her life. A rather intimate conversation with the former First Lady of the United States.

Michelle was very genuine. You could see that she was a bit nervous at the very beginning of her conversation, but once she heard the tremendous support from the Edmonton crowd, she relaxed and let her heart speak to us. There was never a moment of disbelief or mistrust. She was not lying about a single thing. She spoke from her heart, her soul. It resonated with all of us. When she talked about hard moments in life, we could see tears rolling in her eyes. When she told a joke or a funny story, she would smile generously revealing her perfect teeth to the crowd. She was not trying to impress us or to be someone else. She was Michelle. Not even Michelle Obama. Just Michelle, sitting across us and being our genuine friend.

Michelle was hilarious. She cracked jokes and then switched to a serious tone. Her jokes were fresh, not staged. Spontaneous and unexpected. She would joke about the most intimate things in life, things we are too embarrassed to share even with our closest friends: experience with family therapy, marriage problems, kids issues. She made fun of her failures and mistakes. Half of the talk I was laughing out loud, and half of it I could barely hold myself from crying. It was an emotional roller coaster for the audience.

Finally, Michelle was encouraging. She did not know us, but she already believed in each of us. She motivated us to become who we dreamed of becoming. She made it clear: if she could do it, we can do it too.

My last post was about the search of a career mentor. I am still in the process of finding one, but for now I draw inspiration from passionate, strong-minded, and unique people like Michelle Obama.