A few years ago, I blogged about how LinkedIn recruited celebrities to join. I said that I was in favour of it and I hope they commit to it like other social media channels. Most of them abandoned it, but it doesn’t matter because one of Chelsea Handler’s articles really stood out to me.
In March 2016, Chelsea Handler wrote an article on LinkedIn about the power of showing up. A few months later, I was thinking about the article while standing in Starbucks near St. Andrew station and I found the link, then tweeted about it. I re-read the article this week right before I had a chance to tell her how much I loved it in person. It was worth reading again.
I’ve been following Chelsea Handler for a long time. In September 2010, I turned 19 and had an epic 48-hour long celebration. The night before my birthday, I saw Cher and Chelsea Handler back to back at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Then I flew back to Toronto on September 5 to have drinks with friends and celebrate reaching the legal drinking age. On Friday night, they both had shows in Toronto. What are the odds?
When I met Chelsea Handler, I said something like “We’re really different people, but I respect what you do.” We have a very different sense of humour. I also said that because I sat in the 3rd row and I felt like we made eye contact, even though I wasn’t laughing at all her jokes. I was there because of what she wrote on LinkedIn about showing up.
Showing up has been on my mind longer than self-care has been a buzzword. I’m not superhuman and everyone needs to take personal days. It applies to everything, including work, social events and this blog. My late grandfather used to say “if all is well” when people talked about making plans. He always showed up, but that was his response and I recently adopted it too.
By the time I met Chelsea Handler at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, I’m sure she forgot about that article. I told her how much it influenced me and she nodded her head and said “it’s great to hear your feedback.” Her response was a bit underwhelming, but it was also a relief to say it out loud directly to the author. Then I quickly posed for a picture, picked up an autographed book and headed out.
Chelsea Handler showed me her serious side. I bet she could become more like Margaret Trudeau when she gets older. She’ll probably want to keep performing and writing. She’ll continue to share funny stories about partying, but in a mature way. She could continue talking about empathy and stop joking about farting. Wouldn’t that be amazing?