3 AM in Las Vegas

If you’re in Las Vegas and awake at 3 AM, there are only a few reasonable scenarios:

1. You’ve lost so much money that you are doing all you can to win it back…you’re staying at that craps table until the kid’s college fund is replenished!
2. You’re from the East Coast and are used to waking up at 6 AM…with a 3-hour time change you are now up for the day!  Dang-it.
3. You have been fighting pneumonia & bronchitis and have to speak in the morning…so now you are taking every herbal remedy your wife packed to stave off the next level of laryngitis setting in!

Can you guess which of these is my current situation?

You guessed it: Number 1.  Crazy I know.  I’ve lost my mind.

Just kidding, it’s 3, sorry to mess with you for 12 words…

Following helping stranded lady in parking lot jump her car from last week’s post, combined with shoveling snow for a week in blizzards, and then a few forgotten homeopathic strategies I always apply before winter sicknesses set in, and WHAM-O, I have been struggling of late to keep from any serious illnesses.

Instead of flying to Vegas from SLC, UT, I drove 6 hours one way, simply because of all the homeopathic remedies in my car to keep me alive for a 4-day event!

Faithfully I lugged it all into the Mandalay Bay and set up shop.  If housekeeping had come in during my stay they’d think a mad scientist, Dr. Christopher, and Sprouts had lost a bet to DoTerra, Vicks VapoRub, and Dave’s Health Store on 90th South and Redwood!  The scent of Young Living Essential Oils mixed with aloe vera, oregano, honey, Cardio Miracle, and cayenne pepper pills nearly set off the hotel alarm!

Yet there I was, writhing in bed, tossing and turning, coughing my guts out.

As Barry Manilow sang, “I Made it Through The Rain”, and then it came out my nose….

But I did, I made it, the night finally passed, before everything else I’d eaten over Thanksgiving also did, and I did my best impression of a person with energy, health, and happiness as I trudged to my event with a 7 AM call time.

As the event’s Emcee I was introducing speakers, sponsors, and executives to stage all morning.

And then it hit – the tickle in the throat to end all tickles.   Not since that time I was changing from one Elton John outfit to another during my One-Man Show of yesteryear, when I inhaled a boa feather, have I gone into such a spasm cough attack.  But this one was epic.

I ran from the backstage to the restroom (which has no restroom backstage for some reason), so I’m sprinting the 100-yard dash in a suit, sweating, heaving, gasping so as to not make noise over the speaker on stage, as I make it into the bathroom and cough, gag, choke, and scream-heave as if I’m being exorcised in the final bathroom stall.

Everything came up.

To spare you the details I will say I didn’t realize I had eaten the turkey’s wishbone but there it was, staring back at me, and no one had yet made a wish…and this was mine.

Of course, I’m exaggerating in order to feel better about this horrific situation, but I’m kind of not as well.

Needless to say, I gathered myself, grabbed a cup in the hallway of one of the world’s largest and busiest convention centers, took a swig of water, straightened my hair, beard, and shirt, and stoically returned to the ballroom where I continued as Emcee for 2,000 attendees who had no idea what just happened.

I finished the event as best as I could.  I put on a good face, but I was destroyed.  Thankfully the client said I was done for the day and I ran to the nearest bathroom for a safe place to hide for a while.

If you’ve read this far you might be wondering, “Why on earth would he share all of this?”

Good question.  As I’m writing this I’m wondering where this is going as well.

Here’s the Lesson: 

There’s a Promise we make to The One.  That’s your promise to yourself.  To take care of you, to give yourself love, maintain your health, and be happy.

And then there’s The Promise to The Audience, in this case my Client.

They were depending on me, and no one could have filled in for me.

Sometimes we have to compromise The Promise to take care of ourselves first, give it our best shot, as long as we’re not going to actually die, and then just gather our wits and face the crowd.

The audience rarely will know what’s going on, but you give your performance anyway.

I kept The Promise to my Client.  I delivered!  The Show Must Go On and it did!

I truly gave 100%.

And then I went back to my room and took care of ME.

(Side Note: I didn’t (and don’t) actually have anything worse than just a really angry cough and something was certainly off, because if I had a serious illness I’d go to the hospital.  However, I knew I’d had it under control, and long enough, that it was no longer contagious, and it was able to be managed without medication.)

My book, The Promise to The One is coming out in 2020.  It will change the way you look at how you’re living your life.

It will teach you how you are keeping The Promise in so many ways, every day, for others, for your business, for your family, for yourself.

I chose to keep The Promise to my Client this day, and didn’t die, and now take care of The One, which is me.

I’m sure you can relate.  I just dare you to find my room in this hotel by only following the essential oil scents!  Crazy how potent those bad boys are.

~ jason 

Leadership Expert * Author * Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer

The Promise: Become a Legendary Leader and discover your Signature Moves

jasonhewlett.com

Ready to become a better Speaker for your next Presentation?  Let Jason show you how click here