Hiya, everybody!

I’m still cruisin’ on a hyper high from last week. I apologize for not posting last week, but I’m about to explain why.

Last week, I attended FBLA/PBL (Future Business Leaders of America/ Phi Beta Lambda) National Leadership Conference, held at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in beautiful Nashville, TN.

My reason for going was to compete in the Project Management national finals. The top 2 (or 3, not entirely sure…) contenders in each state are invited to compete for a place at NLC. I got First Place in my state, so I was excited to at least be among others who share my love of business topics.

There were quite a number of workshops that took place during the conference’s four days. I attended one about money, and the workshop leader was hilarious! He really made the workshop fun, and I enjoyed it, as well as appreciated the knowledge I gained from it as well.

My competition was late Wednesday morning. I was planning on waking up early and studying before going over to the convention center, but I unfortunately overslept. When I got there, I immediately prayed that things would end up well. The main reason for this was because in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doubting whether my goal of being a Project Manager was too impossible for me. I knew for a fact that my social skills were incredibly lacking, and a good manager has to be good at talking to people, as that’s a big part of the job. I at least wanted to know that I had the knowledge and expertise already, so I could focus on the social aspect for the rest of college.

And you know what? I did. Know how I know that?

I got Fourth Place in the Nation!

I can’t even tell you how happy and nervous I was inside when my name was called in the random top 10. When we (the top 10 in Project Management) were called up on stage, I instantly forgot what I was going to have to do when they called my name. I had to keep repeating to myself, “Shake with right hand, take trophy with left!” As they started counting down from 10, every time I though they were going to call my name. The closer to 1st Place they got, the bigger my smile got and the bigger my anxiety grew. However, when they called me for 4th Place, I was so nervous that I think I rushed.

When I got back to my seat after a group pic, all my fellow LU-PBL-ers were squealing and cheering for me. In fact, they had been practically the whole time. I know now that my worries about people not caring are mostly unfounded, because this small group of classmates, that I barely knew before this conference, supported me. I guess I need a little more faith in myself, and other people as well.

#NLC2014 was the hashtag for the event on Twitter and Facebook, so if you’d like to see some highlights from other NLC-ers, go ahead and look that up.

It was a blast to attend, and such an honor to recieve Fourth Place. Now I know that my path I’ve set in life is possible. All I needed was a little faith.