Giving Back Miracles

This morning, I attended an industry networking event, where I met some new people, reconnected with people I already knew, and listened to talks by several moderators who had volunteered to share their experiences with the attendees. Obviously, at a networking event, you always hope to connect with people who will matter in your career or life path. You always like to believe that if you present your best self, such an event will be better than hundreds of resumes sent out into the abyss. Despite yourself, you go in expecting miracles.

I went not quite sure that I was presenting my best self. I went not quite sure that I was saying what I wanted heard or even hearing the things I needed to hear. But when I came out, what struck me most was not the impression, good or bad, that I'd made. What I took away was a profound sense of what the people organizing the event, particularly the moderators, had given of themselves. They had taken several hours from undoubtedly busy schedules of work and home to be in a room of people who wanted to find out more. Once there, they had given histories of themselves and their own paths, insight into their jobs and honest revelations about what they liked and disliked about them--in short, inspiration to those of us who might still be trying to find our place in the big picture.

So often, when we think of "giving back," we think of soup kitchens and charitable donations and walkathons. This group of people gave back in a way both unique to them and useful to the rest of us. They freely shared experiences. They reminded us that sometimes opportunities come from the oddest directions. They encouraged us to listen to our hearts about what it is we like to do. In "giving back," they gave us the inspiration to jump-start our day, and for many of us, to jump-start the new chapters in our lives.

Is a networking event a miracle making factory? Of course not. But because of a group of people so generous in giving back, this particular networking event will certainly make things happen. Perhaps not miracles, but progress not too short of miraculous.