Four Fun things I learned so far this year
I know dear readers - I appear to have missed a few days. I have been trying to work on writing fiction these past few days and ensuring that my fingers are up to typing the suggested word count for Nanowrimo - starting on Thursday! But I wanted to end the month off with something a bit lightheared, so here it goes!
I LOVE learning new stuff!!! Love love love!!!!! So as I am wrapping up this October blog challenge and rolling into the most exciting challenge thus far for the year – writing my novel – I look back on the year at 4 seemingly insignificant facts I learned that have made a huge impact. I am willing to admit that I was a bit late to the party on several of these things, but better late than never!
1. Print on demand – What is this I see? I can write a book and don’t have to have a garage full of copies sitting around hoping that someone wants to buy it? I discovered print on demand earlier this year before writing my book. If the truth be told, I think that writing my book was a product of being ready but also a testament to the fact that there are so many resources and tools out there these days for writers to use in order to put their message out there that it seems way less daunting. I mean – I hadn’t heard of most of them, but somehow I was able to navigate my way through the process and (hopefully) will soon have a finished product in my hands!
2. Professional Career coaches – I am almost a little bit ashamed to say that it never even occurred to me that career coaches existed outside of university offices. I told my sister about a year ago that I would have to go back to university to be able to work with a career coach if I wanted, and lamented that I hadn’t made the best use of the one I met when I was at university. And fun fact - just before I left university, I absolutely wanted to quite dentistry and do something else, and one of my kind, lovely professors set up a meeting with one of the career coaches at the university. I really enjoyed meeting her and speaking with her, that one time, and she told me two things I never forgot. The first was not to be defined by the degree I took and that no one could take it away from me, and I was still free to do anything I wanted. As I was leaving, I asked her how she had met my professor and she laughed. “Didn’t he tell you” she asked… and it turns out she studied dentistry with him!! But never practiced as a dentist. I have never forgotten that, and I have forgotten a LOT of stuff. Watch this space…
3. I can survive with 2 pairs of shoes – this was more of an accidental discovery. Some time last year my lovely podiatrist recommended that I throw out ALL of my shoes. I had hurt by foot and my back from inadequate support in my footwear. Well – we all know that healthcare professionals make the worse patients, so of course I didn’t follow the instructions I was given. A few months later I fractured my ankle, and I was limited to a single pair of sneakers. Fun fact – it is months after a fractured ankle before the swelling goes down. Cut to October this year – a full year after the fracture, and I finally took the podiatrist’s advice and tossed the rest of the shoes. I should interject here – I HATE buying shoes. My feet are big and wide and flat. Its hard to find anything that fits properly, and so I just don’t… But I wasn’t even wearing half of those shoes before the accidents, and afterwards, even less. So, what did I learn? I learned that I do NOT need as many shoes as I thought I did! So while I am now going to get some more, I am going to make far more sensible purchases, and probably limit myself to 4 pairs.
4. The difference between procrastination and perfectionism. And this isn’t as insignificant a lesson as I first thought so you will have to wait until tomorrow when I am writing a whole blog post on it!!
What fun fact or thing did you learn so far this year?
I send you big love from a small island!!
PS The above photo is one that I took in San Diego last year. Full disclosure - its almost midnight and I wanted to post this today, and google photos is having a moment with my photos that are in “the cloud” so this isn’t the one I wanted to put here. That being said - I like it! Lovely memories of San Diego!
