Before Dominque Pritchett listed a group of traits like powerful, creative and beautiful to the 250 people in attendance, she told them to blow a little air into the balloons they were holding while not letting their toothpicks get anywhere near them.
As Pritchett continued talking and the red balloons got bigger and bigger, she likened the exercise to “filling and reclaiming” the people’s “capacity.” Then she talked about wounds others inflict on us like inferiority, abandonment and injustice.
When she mentioned those wounds, she told everyone to pop their balloons. As she spoke, the sound of popping balloons filled the room like firecrackers. The sound was meant to release the “negatives” and create a feeling of community.
“You’re not going to leave here with it, or you’re going to leave with the concept you’re going to do something about it,” Pritchett said. “As we go out into the world, we are all carrying something. We cannot fix other people. We can guide them as they are on their journey.”
Pritchett was one of three speakers at the second-annual Lake County Joy Summit on Saturday at Zion-Benton Township High School, which also featured a resource fair. The event is designed to make people feel a little better during the dreary winter season.
Zion Township Supervisor Cheri Neal, the summit’s founder and organizer, said she created it to give people a lift. For those who might need more help or want to get a sense of what may be available in the area, the resource fair provided a variety of vendors.
“The summit is meant to infuse joy into people’s lives to help them get through the winter doldrums,” Neal said. “It is meant to help those of us who feel down from things like the weather and the shorter days refresh themselves from the impact.”
Joining Pritchett as speakers at the event were Jason Kotecki, who talked about escaping “adultitis” and not being afraid to trust impulses from childhood; and Amber Swenor, who talked about the importance of togetherness, among other things.
Along with her balloon popping exercise, Pritchett talked about the importance of living within oneself and finding strength there. Joy is still possible when someone is having a bad day. They just have to look harder to find it.
“I want you to think about your own power, and what has brought you to this point in your life,” Pritchett said. “Listen to what’s around you. Listen to your breakthroughs, your brilliance, your bravery that lives in each and every one of you.”
Debbie Pauke of Zion said she enjoyed Pritchett’s talk, but added she has her own definition of finding joy.
“Joy is about knowing what makes you feel joyful,” Pauke said.
During his talk, Kotecki said that as people grow from childhood to maturity, they develop adultitis, and he encourages them to break free from some of their inhibitions so they can feel more joy in their lives.
“The cell phone has become a body part,” Kotecki said. “Let’s have a dress-down day. We all have a superpower that’s special to us, and we should focus on it. If we look around, we can have a ‘happy accident.’ Even in a storm, we can have a 100% chance of awesome.”
Talking about a game he plays with his wife, Kotecki said they have a small, hard rubber penguin they hide from each other. The finder then hides it. They never know when it will pop up. He met a woman while on a business trip to San Diego. He said he learned that she and her husband played the same game.
Calling their small rubber figurine Waldo, they hid it from each other. Kotecki said she told him her husband died of cancer on Thanksgiving that year, three months after his diagnosis. It was still her turn to host Christmas, and got hot and stuffy in their Southern California home.
“We turned on the ceiling fan, and Waldo came shooting out, hit someone in the forehead and landed on the table,” Kotecki said, quoting the woman. “That was the last place my husband hid Waldo. He got us one more time. It was emotional, but those tears turned to laughs.”
Karen Melchiorre of Zion said she liked hearing Kotecki’s talk and stories. It made her feel better as she listened.
“I was laughing,” Melchiorre said. “Laughter makes my day.”
In her talk, Swenor said with everything happening around the country and world, joy is more important than ever with many people “exhausted and stretched thin.” She talked about the ways joy can be drained and what to do about it.
“Authenticity becomes a doorway to true joy and connection with others,” Swenor said. “Yet, many of us have been taught how to become acceptable, productive and fine, but not always how to stay connected to who we really are.”
