Speeches and Beaches - project me post 850

I'm sitting in that mixes space of being excited for each moment but also knowing I'll be so relieved when it's all over. I'm officially an?insomniac, but know that too shall pass.?It's a combination of tomorrow and then Friday and I think my brain will allow me to find some normality ... until the next challenge, of course.

So tomorrow is the early morning start (really early) for me to dressed and ready to head to my judging for the Rising Star Awards. When I first got nominated, the process didn't even enter my mind and within a few weeks ... and with great honour ... I was informed about the 7 minutes, prepared speech that I need to present in front of a judging panel.
The speech is on my career journey and why I think I deserve to the SA rising star in the?entrepreneurial?category. The words are all there and the dozens of reason why I know I'm part of the finalists is very clear to me. I'm beyond proud of all that I have done to stand in front of the judges tomorrow. The only thing I'm battling with is a SPEECH. Not that I have to say one, but that I had to prepare one. I haven't done that since college and I pride myself in being able to be plonked on a stage and to feel comfortable for me to talk for the given amount of time. The unnatural me comes out when it's prepared speech time. Even at my sister's wedding, they asked me to do the speech and all I knew was how I was going to end it. Interestingly enough, I met with one of my influencers and he told me that I need is how I'm going to begin it. That's not possible when I need to know I'm going to be speaking for 7 minutes.

So it's been a weekend of writing the speech (which was the easy part) ... I have the most patient man in the world. We went over it a dozen times, mostly because I kept giving up at around 6 minutes and never quite found out if my speech would fit into the time. With a few tweaks, a few tears and a whole lot of patience, the timing is perfect.?Now it's learning this thing and I have to admit that I'm impressed with this brain of mine, it's not as rusty as I thought.

So the interview is at 8am tomorrow morning and after my speech I am asked questions by a panel of judges ... gulp! So I'm taking in the light of 'project me' and just trying to have fun. No matter what, I've already done so well to get into the finals of such an awesome competition.

No rest for the wicked because Friday is off to Durban for our first #FollowSA Tweetup. Wow, this has been a challenge, to say the least. We usually have about 90 people at our Cape Town and Jozi event and we are currently sitting on 18 RSVP's. What it's taken for me to hold it all together and keep rational about the energy of the Durbs peeps has been something else. Actually, I think the speech has been a good distraction for the madness.
In amazement, everyone has been so supportive ... and that's because everyone's also done business with Durbs. So flights are booked, Emmanuel is flying down with us, hotel?accommodation?is sorted, we have prizes and goodie bags ... and everyone isn't stressing that the crowd might be so small that we could fit them around a dinner table.

I'm super thrilled that my friend Khanyisa is taking up one of Travel.co.za's specials that they created just for #FollowSA and she's coming to join us in Durban. That's another huge milestone for us and I know that eventually we are going to have the hottest Tweetups in Durbs.

The other reason why I'm so excited about Durban is that Pat gets to spend some time with his kids. We haven't seen them since December and not since we got engaged so I'm really looking forward to watching him share some good quality time with them ... on the beach. I have a very special place in my heart for the Durban seaside ... it's where I decided that I was going to write my novel, Ephineah. I remember the day I was lying on the beach and staring at the one rock pools and having the first thoughts of a story flow through my mind. I can't wait to be sitting on the beach, with the man I love, his kids and my dearest friends ... very well manifested indeed!