I recently went to a religious seminar with my mother a couple days ago.

Side note: I had no idea where I was going. My mother told me to wake up at 8 a.m. and we were leaving the house early.

My mother is a physical therapist and I thought the seminar was for physical therapy. I figured why not learn something new this weekend…However, I did learn something new, just not anything about physical therapy.

I attended a religious feminism seminar and the theme was - Feminine, Faithful, and Fearless. It was an all women’s event where women can hear testimonies from women and their encounters with God. The event served refreshments and had vendors from different religious stores for them to sell to the women. Some of the vendors included jewelry, books, and clothing. Then the event started.

The first topic was Feminine. The speaker was pretty young compared to the other speakers. She spoke to the women about chastity and love. How she overcame the temptation of society and her accomplishments while being a virgin. Her destination for love was still out there. She mainly spoke about her writing on a major newspaper platform and how she got recognition from people praising her. However, the speaker did speak about a few religious leaders and referenced some quotes about God. I’ll admit, she did do her homework with a little help of her flashcards. But rather than leaving with inspiration for the ending of Lent season, she left me with her autobiography and a few quotes from religious leaders.

The second topic was Faithful. This was probably my favorite topic. Another side note, I’m not very religious. But I do have a lot of respect for genuine people speaking the truth. A nun spoke about faith. However, it wasn’t all about her love for God. It was about the love she had for people. Her family, her neighbors, the people she didn’t like, every possible human being. She told stories about different religious leaders and how they helped changed their community. Her main focus was the meaning of the Eucharist. It wasn’t about what she spoke about that moved me, it was how she said it. No filter, being blunt about her opinions, which explains why she got more of an enthusiastic applause rather than the other speaker.

To the final speaker of the seminar, Fearless. This speaker, in particular, is the reason for this article. I’m going not going to say every detail about her story. In a few words, her story consisted of two deaths from her family - one car accident and one suicide. The story itself was sad, I’ll admit, but what I noticed was how she went word for word from her flashcards about her story. It wasn’t those necessary pauses to create a dramatic affect. It was those “oh my God, what do I say next?” Now what got me thinking was if it’s your story, why do you need flashcards?

I take a public speaking class, you know the Fundamentals of Speech course. And from time to time, my professor will talk about his life. No flashcards, no power points. Just him speaking about his life. It’s more heartfelt and honest, like any other person telling their story. If it’s your story, you don’t need guidelines. By reading off from your notecards and delivering your speech with the fake tone, doesn’t make it genuine. I got more inspiration from a nun than a woman reading about her empty love nest and another reading word her life story word for word.

Life stories are meant for people to feel inspired, not to be read as robots.