Mental health humorist Evan Dumas encourages us to sit in that uncomfortable feeling of being lost and follow the same advice as if you were lost in a forest.
When is the last time you felt truly lost, like you were on a path you couldn’t see, or you had no idea what to do next? That is one of the most human and yet uncomfortable feelings in your emotional library. When we feel lost, we forget that everyone feels this way sometimes. It’s often easier to retreat to the old standbys of panicking, avoiding, or not getting out of bed. In changing how we look at and deal with feeling lost, Evan hopes to remind us that the challenge is appreciating the path you’re on even when you can’t see it. You can find the “It’s OK to feel lost” zine Evan mentions in his talk on his website.
About the speaker
Finding his own path through careers in tech, research, mental health and career counseling, the one constant Evan Dumas has seen is a need for our humanity to play a bigger role in our professional lives. Working in the space between mental health therapy and standup comedy, he speaks to groups large and small about the heavy stuff—with humor and lightness. Evan's aim is to help workers everywhere cope with the occupational hazards of burnout and compassion fatigue. By addressing systemic issues both external and internalized, he helps people better understand their relationships to themselves and their work.
Evan holds a Masters of Arts in Professional Mental Health Counseling from Lewis & Clark College.
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If anything I want you to take away from this talk is moments in your future and your present and even in your past that you can forgive when you felt lost, you felt uncertain, you felt like, "I should know what I'm doing but I don't"—that's ok. That is human. That is normal and that is right where you're supposed to be.
What do you have to work with right now?
What has brought you to where you are? … What landmarks should you be seeing?
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2218 NE Broadway
Portland, Oregon United States 97232
Date
Partners
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Photographer Christopher Diego
Videographer Tyler Nordby
One of my favorite talks! Thanks so much <3
I LOVED this talk! Thank you for sharing your truth with vulnerability and light-heartedness.