05 Jul AWASH IN TEARS
Author Roger Rosenblatt just wrote an opinion piece in the NY Times called Why Old People Cry. Rosenblatt shares that older people are filled with memories and regrets and know how quickly the present becomes the past. Lifelong friends are gone. Relationships wither. Cue the tears.
We’ve also seen twenty-somethings tear up when they recall a childhood challenge or loss of a loved one. Emotion doesn’t give anyone a pass. When speaking and tears well up, our advice is to pause, breathe and remind yourself of the intention for your presentation. At that moment, it’s not about you. What’s most important is what you’re delivering to your audience.
Tears are nothing to be ashamed of and can connote joy as well as pain. An attorney client was receiving a lifetime achievement award. When rehearsing his acceptance speech, the tears flowed when he thanked a businessman in his small Texas town for realizing his potential and funding his college education. When tears are authentic, you touch a chord in your audience and they feel your joy or pain, as if it were their own. Just remember to carry on.
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