Last week ICF’s Hungarian charter chapter held its annual conference and I was happy to join as "just an attendee”. Nothing to present, no one to represent. Just me. For years I have been attending such events as an EMCC official, either as the international VP of Research or later as the Hungarian research director. This time it was all just me, no titles. Just the person and the professional.

It was elevating to be just me.

Was it the lack of responsibilities? Was it the freedom of speaking just for me? Was it that this had been a “day off” from my parental responsibilities as well?

How do you think of yourself when you get a day off from your roles? Do you know your own inner core, the you beneath your roles?

It is enriching to take a step back and ponder on this.

I had a great day. Meeting friends and colleagues, and participating in the rich programme. The evet’s motto was: “rethinking future”. Obviously the topic resonated with me. I had three inspiring takeaways from the program.

The keynote of Prof. Reinhard Stelter was great as he explored both the history of coaching’s development and the next steps that he foresees. I loved his thoughts on how coaching relates to authentic conversations and I got to think about the necessity of our professional boundaries. I was so impressed that I have already invited him to be a guest in the podcast! My question from his session was: how to maintain an authentic conversation if you are (not) authentic with yourself?

I joined a session on creativity held by Zita Németh MCC a fellow coach who I have known for years now. She let us experiment with some practical tools, pictures etc. in order to show how to equip our clients with the creative mindset that they need in their journey. As I was into my own experience of being “without roles” the session brought me the following question: how deep can you reinvent yourself? (I know, therapy can make miracles 😊.)

The final session was conducted by the famous singer Bea Palya who invited us all to practice our personal voices. Imagine a hundred plus people singing and experimenting with tones and voices! It was pretty cool! And again this session brought me another well-known truth: you can think all you want on (your own) future, but unless you speak your truth, your voice it won’t happen.

Putting all these experiences together into a single question I am asking you:

What is the new truth of yours that you’ll start speaking about?