MEscovery

I rock. At least today I did. And some of this week. In fact, I'm starting to realise that I rock quite a lot of the time. Especially when I'm in a situation which scares the hell out of me. I'm noticing more and more that the things which make me feel great about myself are those which I dread the most. It's so much easier to stay within my comfort zone and not push myself to do the things that scare me, that when I do breakout of that comfy, cosy safe area it's a great surprise to feel the boost of self-esteem and confidence which inevitably comes from doing so. That scary presentation, the uncomfortable lunch with someone unknown, going for dinner with people you don't know very well, standing up for yourself at work and being proud of what you achieve. These are the things that give the biggest boost of energy when you push yourself to do them and surprisingly, you do them well.  Never been fond of pushing myself too much. Maybe that's why in the past wh

I stood next to someone at the tills today. I knew that person and yet I totally pretended I hadn't even spotted them. I may have even looked the other way and scooted off before they got a chance to notice me. Not because I don't like that person. It's just that in that moment I panic slightly about exactly who this person is and where I know them from.  I quite often go blank when I need to remember someone's name. That's if I even realise I know that person before they approach and I have to frantically flick through my internal contact list to try and look less blank - even worse when you have to introduce two acquaintances. Excruciating.  I do genuinely like most of these people. It's not a lack of care or interest in them that causes the social memory loss. But I definitely wasn't first in line when facial recognition was being handed out. My phone probably has a better chance of that than I do. Siri - help! Does anyone know of any tric

While I am writing this my three year old daughter is proudly singing along to Frozen songs. The fact she doesn't quite know all the words is not a concern at all. She sings with a little smile on her face and mumbles along to the parts which are a little confusing and hikes up the volume for those parts where she knows the words perfectly "Do you want to build a snowman?" "Okay, bye!". Not a day goes by where I don't catch myself admiring my children's self confidence to go and be bold, sing out loud (not bothered about being pitch perfect or knowing the words), shout out to friends across the road (oh, my heart always sinks when the friend doesn't respond straight away ("They might not have heard you, sweetie."), talk proudly about their achievements of the day - however small ("I didn't wee in my pants! Now, can I play a game tonight?"). Some adults seem to keep that self belief long after we leave childhood behind. Oth