ME in 2018
Wow, start with an easy topic for #blogadaymay I thought. Ask people to talk about themselves. That will be quick and easy. What can I write about myself I thought? I quickly wrote my standard blurb:
Woman in her 30s, two kids, wife, business owner, teacher, singer, blogger, bish bash bosh DONE.
Of course it wasn’t that easy.
These, in no particular order, are some of the questions that sprang to mind as I wrote the word ME:
Is this the me I imagined I’d be?
When do I feel the most ME? Do I miss my old pre-kids body?
Am I still too much of a chameleon? Do I adapt me to suit different situations?
is thinking about ME just too me me me!
Am I proud of me?
What would my husband/ my best friend/ my mum / my kids say was “me”, and does that actually matter?!
It was at that point I decided that if I was going to get this philosophical about every single blog post that the #blogadaymay challenge was going to get a bit much, so I’ve decided to adopt an @clemmietelford approach to this, so here are 32 things about me, on the eve of my 33rd birthday:
I know every episode of Friends from memory - and remember getting the whole dvd collection, finding the cut scenes and shrieking “this was ALL CUT!!!” every time there was previously unseen footage (this was not at all annoying)
My voice is in many a film soundtrack, often singing “ooooh, ahhh” or “air”
I used to have claustrophobia, which I now realise is more a general anxiety about being unable to escape or being trapped – planes are not my friend at the moment
I am suddenly quite afraid of death, and am trying to work out why
I am an optimist – often naïve, and happy to be so
I have always been a bit greedy – when I was younger I would wait until I had nearly finished my pack of smarties, and then suggest to my sister that we “share”
I love a canal boat holiday
One Christmas day, along with my sister, husband (then boyfriend) and a friend from school, I appeared on a loop on QVC singing Christmas Carols – I still don’t really understand why
I LOVE language and am fantastically verbose
I tend to turn anything into a song – I enjoy a healthy dose of popropriation (I believe the term was first coined by Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish on their fantastic BBC6 Music podcast)
I am hysterically proud of my podcast – that I just did it, that it works and that I have some amazing people lined up to come and chat to me
I would like to write a book
I would like to study for an MA
I am very good at starting a craft project…and very bad at finishing one
I love a good sit down
I have perfect pitch – so I can hear in my head all the different pitches that exist and sing them to you, without needing a piano etc to find them – I like to believe this is a super power
I have synaesthesia – when I hear certain keys I see certain colours – F major is purple, E major is yellow etc.
Despite being confident, I have always felt that one day I will be “found out” – I have had to work to banish imposter syndrome
I have quite comically small hands, but am also hyperflexible, so can stretch a tenth on the piano (useful as a music teacher)
I am without grace, and with clumsiness
I love a planning meeting, and now so do my kids. “Mummy, can we talk about THE DAYS” is an oft-said expression in my household
Going for a stomp and then a cream tea at a National Trust place or RHS Wisley with my kids, sister and boyfriend, husband, parents and grandparents makes me quite giddily joyful
I often have to remind myself that I am a good mum – the affirmation “I am doing my best and that is enough” is said with alarming frequency
I am incredibly nosey – I am fascinated by other people’s stories and love nothing better than listening to them
I used to think that I hated change…but it turns out I’m quite happy to flip something on its head and try something new
I thought I was level-headed…but I can be enormously impulsive (or should that be instinctive?)
At school (in Physics) we had to do an experiment to test the level of pressure on our feet. Such were the weight of my breasts on my (then) size 4 feet that the teacher remarked I had to cope with “abnormal pressure”. I often quote this to my husband when I am whinging about having tired legs.
I am proud to be a feminist. I am proud to be a girly girl. I am proud to be happily often a little bit grubby from playing outside with the kids. I am proud to be complex.
I live by “everything will alright in the end…and if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.” Thank you to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo for that.
I am an extremely extroverted introvert – I love making friends and I love being with people – but I also love the gentle solitude of a Bargain Hunt, the sofa and a cuppa
Sometimes I wish I could slow down and not always be excited about the NEXT THING – but that’s who I am, and that’s ok
I like me.