“We don’t have to attend for a pure catastrophe to work collectively. We’ve all the time been able to it.”
These phrases had been spoken by Maja Kazazic on Sunday throughout her lunchtime keynote speech on the Nationwide Heart for Assisted Dwelling’s NCAL Day in Orlando, FL.
The pure catastrophe Kazazic was referring to was the anticipated Hurricane Milton, which the previous night was poised to pose such a menace to central Florida — virtually all the state, actually — that the American Well being Care Affiliation and NCAL introduced that they had been canceling their bigger convention set to begin Monday and proceed by Wednesday. However NCAL Day went on as deliberate, even when the suitcases that lined the again of the ballroom the place Kazazic spoke, indicating attendees’ impending departures, had not initially been deliberate.
Kazazic isn’t any stranger to catastrophe, and her speak was riveting. She did a masterful job of unpacking her private story and weaving it into messages associated to constructing a optimistic, wholesome work setting, fostering significant relationships and changing into a greater chief at work and elsewhere.
And her private story is a doozy.
A local of the previous Yugoslavia, she was severely injured by an exploding bomb throughout the Bosnian Warfare in 1993, when she was 16. Greater than 100 surgical procedures adopted, certainly one of them to take away her left leg. She went to the USA for remedy, first dwelling in Cumberland, MD, and in the end dwelling within the Tampa, FL, space, coincidentally one of many areas anticipated to be extra closely hit by Hurricane Milton. At this time, she is a motivational speaker, generally joined by her Nice Dane, Rosie, who is also an amputee.
I couldn’t presumably do justice in recounting her story or her speak. However Kazazic spent a part of her time sharing these 5 factors on the trail to creating wholesome environments and significant connections:
- Empathy fuels connections. Empathy, not sympathy, builds connections, she stated, including, “It’s important to be empathetic.”
- Positivity is a matter of perspective, and perspective is a matter of selection — your selection. “It’s important to select it. And likewise, another person can’t select it for you, and you may’t select it for another person,” Kazazic stated.
- Work collectively towards a typical aim. Latest hurricanes present good examples of this level, she stated. “Individuals are … working collectively,” Kazazic stated, “as a result of on the finish of the day, people are people, and people are good, and people wish to assist one another.”
- Be susceptible with your self. “Be susceptible with others. It creates mutually sturdy relationships that you simply’re going to cherish for all times,” she suggested.
- Acknowledge and settle for assist. “If you happen to’re open to receiving it, it’ll are available some ways, and you need to be open and capable of acknowledge it,” Kazazic stated.
She concluded by noting that tons of of individuals like NCAL Day attendees helped her get the place she is at present.
“Whether or not you understand it or not, irrespective of how small the duty that you simply’re doing, it really ripples out and makes an enormous distinction,” Kazazic stated. “Many little individuals in lots of little locations do many little issues. That’s how the entire world modifications.
“And you’re these individuals. …Irrespective of how small your acts of kindness and compassion are that drive you, they really paint a greater future for all of us.”
If you happen to missed her keynote speech or want to ponder her factors additional, Kazazic has posted a recap on her web site.
I’m again from the abbreviated convention, protected from the storm after constructing a few of my very own significant connections. I’m holding good ideas for these in Florida and elsewhere affected by Milton. Please take care.
Lois A. Bowers is the editor of McKnight’s Senior Dwelling. Learn her different columns right here. Observe her on X (previously Twitter) at Lois_Bowers.
