Thank You!!

I just want to tell you how much I appreciate the concern and hugs you gave me after yesterday's November Blues post. So many of you are going through things that are much more difficult than anything that I have to face right now, but you still took the time to send me good wishes. Many, many thanks.

I still sometimes think it's weird having virtual friends out there from all over the world who probably wouldn't recognize me if we walked past each other on the street but who take a few moments to send me hugs and support when I need it.

"Do one thing a day that scares you," said Eleanor Roosevelt. I read this on someone's blog quite recently. If you're the person who posted it, bravo!

It's something I sincerely believe, but geez, it never seems to get easier. Take my conference this morning. I think it went fairly well, considering the stress, the fact that we had NO IDEA at all what they would talk about and the fact that the discussion was sometimes quite technical. On top of that, I hadn't been given the right start time. I got an e-mail a few weeks ago, saying that the meeting would start at 11 a.m. When I arrived at the hotel last, I saw my contact person, chatting with someone in the lobby. Thank goodness she was there. The meeting was scheduled to start at 10. I dashed to my room and called my team mate, who happens to live here (I'm blogging from the airport right now, waiting for my flight home). No answer. I e-mailed him this morning. No answer. I called back again several times. Just the answering machine.

At 9:55 a.m. he arrived, having only checked his messages about half an hour earlier. As he walked into the lobby of the hotel, I looked at him and said, "I love you." It was quite funny. He's over 6 feet tall and very reserved. I'm 4'10" (when I stand up really tall) and full of beans. We were in the booth and ready to work right on time.

I'm extremely hard on myself, a perfectionist to the tips of my fingers, so all I can tell you about my "performance" today--and it really is performance art--is that I made a few mistakes. I'm always really shocked when this very demanding client calls me back. This is the fourth year I've done this meeting and I guarantee you, I'll be shocked if I do it again next year. It never seems to get easier and it really is a fearful experience.

I think I probably have a pretty high fear threshold, at least work-wise, but this meeting scares the pants off me. The crazy thing is, if they ask me to do it again next year, I will.

Thanks, Eleanor. And thank you!

P.S. If you're wondering about this picture of Eleanor Roosevelt, I just thought it was too a-propos to not post. The photo shows her giving a speech at the United Nations and wearing headphones so that she can listen to the simultaneous translation when people are speaking languages other than English. My job is to be one of the voices that come out of headphones like the ones Eleanor was wearing, though no, I don't work at the U.N. since you need at least three working languages and I only have two, French and English. I really should have worked on my Spanish. Oh well.

P.P.S. Diane, I can't wait to read your post and I'm honoured that you're going to link to my blog.