There is a lyric in The Sound of Music that has always bothered me: "Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could." I want to rewrite it.
"Something comes from something. Something always could."
In this talk, Lea Appleton draws on a beloved children's story—Joseph Had a Little Overcoat—to make a radical and deeply practical case: we always have something to create from. Every fragment carries a trace of what it was. The losses, the pivots, the worn-out seasons are not obstacles to a meaningful life. They are the material.
The talk builds what feels like a narrative of loss and then completely reframes it. People leave having recognized their own fragments as the material of a life still very much in the making.
Best for: Corporate teams in transition, women's associations, higher education, wellness retreats. Available in 30, 45, and 60-minute formats. Half-day workshop version available.
