Page 8 - 2016 December Voices

When he texted me, I felt bad because I Then it clicked, and I was like, “Push past it,
couldn’t give him an answer that I felt proud yeah! I should just use this message that my
of. So I was thinking about it for a while. A grandmother taught me.”
couple weeks later, I came across this person So when I was talking to my grandmother,
going for the World Championship of Public and she said the push pass it message, I knew
Speaking. And I thought, “Well I should do that it would resonate with me and my heart
that. I should win the World Championship, and everything that I did. It all tied together.
I should go for it. This should be the hardest I don’t know if I’ve ever told anyone else
thing I’ll ever have to do.” I decided. “OK but it was really, really, really hard for me
I’m going to go all in for it.” That’s what after I got out of the cast. So many people
prompted the whole thing. told me, “You have to wear the cast. You have
to wear the crutches. If you don’t the speech
From the seminal thought to the finished won’t work.” Like that’s what makes a speech,
semifinalist speech, what prompted you you know. People see you in that. I was so
to write about your grandmother’s phrase like, “OK maybe I’ll use it as a prop, and I was
‘push past it’? like “no that’s so fake, And that’s not from
I was developing the speech. Just Jump the heart.” So I just struggled with it so much
was my first talk. People said, “That’s good, because the message that I kept getting was
that’s sweet. Good job, Ryan” like the normal “that speech won’t be as powerful if you’re
Toastmasters. You could bomb, and people not on crutches.”
are like “I can’t wait for your next speech,” When I won the semifinals, people asked
and I could feel it wasn’t that good. I was, in
me like how do you feel when you want the
world championship and the difference
is when I won with the semifinals of Push
Past It, I was elated, I was so excited. Crazy
exciting feeling. And then I won the World
Championship. It was a relief feeling. A lot
of people think that when you win the World
Championship you’re so excited. It wasn’t an
excitement, it was a relief!

Following your championship win, how
did you balance work, family, and speaking
gigs during those early days?
It was really tough. I didn’t. And that’s
what was wearing me out. I literally would
go to Special Olympics Monday through
Friday, and fly out Friday night, go keynote
on Saturday, and fly back on Sunday. I did
it, and I was getting really burnt out. It was
affecting me personally.
That’s when I went to Chelsea and I said,
“Look, I’m pretty sure this is a business, I’m
pretty sure people do this full time. However
I’m working sixty hours at Special Olympics,
so my time can’t be dedicated to writing a
keynote, or a book, or anything. But if I quit
a way, complaining to my grandmother. I Special Olympics, and I put all my time and
was like, “Man, I feel bad. I want to do this energy into it, I really think I could do this
contest but I can’t find the message.” She, full time. That would mean we’d have to
over the phone like normal, gave me the move back in with my parents, move back
advice, “Push past it, you’ll figure it out.” to Texas, we’d have to leave all of our friends,

8 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 6 DECEMBER, 2016