Money Saving Mom®

Yesterday, three-year-old Silas decided he wanted to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. Since we’re the type of parents who never want to hold our children back (or maybe you could term us “relaxed parents” since we’re okay with letting our children do things that might possibly result in some scrapes and bruises?), Jesse took off his training wheels, we suited him up with his bike helmet, and we helped him get up on his bike and try riding without training wheels.

Of course, he didn’t succeed yesterday and it was a whole lot harder than he thought it would be, but his determination to do this has been inspiring to me. How many times in our own lives do we wish we could do something, but we don’t just go try it, because we’re scared of the falls and bruises that might result from going out there and trying?

Facing My Public Speaking Fears

I’ve been learning this in my journey to become a public speaker. At first, public speaking absolutely scared me beyond what I can express. And no, I am so not exaggerating. Even though I had a lot of passion and a lot of things I wanted to share, I would avoid speaking opportunities like my life depended upon it.

This went on for years, with me turning down opportunity after opportunity because I didn’t want to stand up in front of a crowd and make an utter fool of myself. Now granted, I’m really, really glad I didn’t do public speaking back when I thought I pretty much knew everything.

Falling Down and Getting Up and Trying Again

God has been gracious to teach me a lot about grace in the last few years and to help me realize how far I have to come and how much I have to learn. In the process, He’s been challenging me to step outside my comfort zone and share some of my passion for financial stewardship and intentional living as a public speaker.

The first few speaking engagements I did were really downright awful. In fact, I pretty much read my talks word-for-word with a shaking voice. {If you were in attendance at one the aforementioned speaking engagements, thank you so much for your kindness to actually sit through the sessions!}

But as I kept putting myself out there, kept making mistakes, kept getting back up and trying again after falling down, public speaking has more and more become something I’m truly loving. And I’m excited that I can actually stand up in front of a crowd and ad lib with passion — something I never would have dreamed would be possible a few years back.

Turn Your “I Wishes” Into “I Wills”

If I had given up after those first few abysmal speeches, I never would have discovered how much I actually enjoy speaking to a crowd. And I certainly never would have had some of the opportunities I’ve had in recent months to get to meet and become friends with such amazingly dear people.

I’m far from where I want to be in honing the craft of public speaking (I was telling someone just last week, “I’ve got the passion, I just need to work on the polish!“), but I’m so excited at the progress I’ve made. Instead of running from critiques, I now welcome them because I know this is one of the best ways to improve. In fact, I’ve been making a few honest friends critique me after every speech and I’m getting ready to start working with a speaking coach who will likely take critiquing to a whole new level.

This is how you learn anything in life. You stop saying “I wish” and start saying “I will”. You jump out of your comfort zone and face your fears. You watch and learn from people who are much more experienced. You practice, practice, and practice some more. And you get back up and do it again when you fall down.

You might not succeed at what you’re hoping to and you might not end up where you plan to, but I promise that if you turn your “I wishes” into “I wills”, your life is going to be much more rich, fulfilled, and exciting. And you just might far exceed what you ever imagined was possible!

What are you going to stop saying “I wish” about today? Tell us about it in the comments.

As you well know, I’m an avid reader. Not only do I love to read, but I find that a steady diet of good books challenges my mind and inspires and motivates me as a person.

If you’re a full-time college student, a busy professional, and/or a mom of a few children, you might feel like there’s no time in your day to fit in more reading. Well, I disagree.

Head on over to The Better Mom where I’m sharing 15 of my favorite ways to find more time to read. Have any great ideas to add to my list? Leave them in the comments!

I’m so honored to be on the panel of judges for the Top 10 Blogs for Book Lovers Contest hosted by Story Cartel.

Head on over to Story Cartel to nominate your favorite book blog. Here are the details you’ll want to know:

• Nominate your favorite blog in the comments section, and make sure to include a link to the blog so we can find it.
• Explain why you like the blog.
• You only have one vote, so use it wisely.
• Nominations close March 1, so get your nominations in quickly.

You can nominate your own blog, but you may want to trade nominations with a friend. Also, a blog must be nominated more than once to be considered for the award.

We started the week off by celebrating Kathrynne’s birthday. She picked to have friends over for two different playdates and go out on special outings with Jesse and me. I took her to her favorite toy store and she had fun picking out some things.

And no birthday is complete without a trip to Coldstone Creamery!

I headed to Florida early Thursday morning for the BEECH Retreat. This was on the drive to Captiva Island. It was breath-taking!

I met so many amazing people and had so many incredible experiences on this trip. I hope to blog more about things I learned in the future, but in the mean time, here are a few pictures from the weekend…

The view from our first night’s dinner on the lawn. It was cold and windy but oh-so-beautiful!

Two gals I got to meet and know: Jill from Blessed Beyond a Doubt and Tabitha from Meet Penny.

This is me with Victoria — a sweet and spunky friend of mine who I’ve been inspired by for a very long time. It was wonderful to finally meet her in person. Check out her blog at Snail Pace Transformations.

We had a luau on the beach on Friday evening. It was warmer that night, so it was truly beautiful.

One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting John G. Miller. My husband and I have both been blessed by his books and his encouragement to be personally accountable instead of looking for someone else to blame. His keynote on Saturday morning was extremely inspiring!

And in real life, he’s amazingly generous, gracious, and warm-hearted. You can follow him on Twitter at @QBQGuy and if you’ve not read QBQ, it’s a must read!

It was fun to get to meet and hang out with Ashley from Ambient Promotions. She does my ebook marketing and oversees the daily running of my other site, eReader Girl. She’s hilarious in real-life — just like I expected her to be! — and we stayed up too late laughing over all sorts of funny stories.

This was the view from my room balcony. I couldn’t believe how loud the ocean was lapping up against the shore at night!

Brianne was Compassion’s representative and she and I just hit it off. She’s spunky and full of life, and she and I both bonded over our love for giving. She blogs at Our Savory Life.

A second big highlight of the retreat was getting to meet and spend a little time with Michael Hyatt. He’s everything I expected him to be: engaging, humble, energetic, a good listener, and full of wisdom. If you’re not following his blog, you should be.

When I arrived home, Kathrynne was very excited to show me her new moves on her rip stick. She’s becoming quite a pro at it!

And Kaitlynn was so excited because she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels this week!