Today is the 3rd of October and the longest I have gone without writing on my blog. There have been days where I’ve not thought about it but mainly I’ve had anxiety that I haven’t got something of value to write, that I haven’t read anyone else’s blogs or that I am too busy but shouldn’t say that I’m busy because it’s not a word we should use – even when we really are busy!

Anyhoo to ease me back in gently, I’m doing a Blue Peter special and posting something that I made earlier.

I am part of a new organisation at work. Same job, same office, different floor though (ooooh) and different email account. As a few teams and organisations have come together there are a lot of new faces and people don’t know each other. The solution for this is a Meet the…section in the weekly newsletter where staff are invited to answer questions about themselves.

I cringed at this at first. I’m a private person in the office, and in life in general apart from this blog. As each Friday approached I found myself looking forward to reading about and getting to know my colleagues. People who I would smile at or give a breathy ‘hi’ to (you know that greeting that comes from the chest in a low heavy whisper).

It took me about 4 weeks to finally respond to the list of questions I had to choose to answer from. My wanting to be vulnerable but not wanting to be ‘vulnerable’ at work was holding me back. Edit after edit I was ready to submit.

I was featured in last week’s newsletter and some of the answers I gave, I’ve not even shared on my blog. So if my work colleagues know these things about me, then it’s only right that you do to.

Read on for my answers….

Name: Emma Halliday
Role: Implementation Lead, Empower the Person
Home is… I’m a Leeds lass but have lived in East London for the past 3.5 years.

What was the first record you ever bought?  
Jason Donavan, Sealed with a Kiss. I think I was 8 or 9, technically I didn’t buy it myself, it was a present for my birthday but I definitely asked for it.

What do you collect?
Words. I love books and I love writing. I have always got a book or 2 on the go. I have recently been taking part in a flash fiction writing competition. 48 hours, 1000 words, using 3 prompts (genre, location and object). That was intense fun.

Which three people, living or dead, would you want to spend an evening with and why? 
Michelle Obama. She is such a remarkable woman. I would ask her how she keeps her composure and head held high with all the obstacles and judgements she’s faced.
Brené Brown. She is my girl crush – I’ve read, listened to or watched everything she has done. If you haven’t already seen her Ted Talk ‘The Power of Vulnerability’ check it out and then you’ll know why.
Any of my ancestors. I did a DNA  test with Ancestry.com and the results that came back were really interesting. It would be great to sit with one of them and find out about their journey.

What is your greatest achievement? 
Overcoming my fear of public speaking. Having the courage to speak up has truly transformed my life. I went on many public speaking courses and little by little, my confidence grew. It’s opened many doors for me, including; the job I do now, hosting my own personal development workshop and taking part in a storytelling project which is now a podcast and is currently being crowdsourced so fingers crossed, a book will be published soon.

What Olympic sport would you take part in and why?
100 metres sprint. I held the gold medal for this for 2 consecutive years at school. My PE teacher asked if I would go to athletics club but I declined because I really didn’t like training or doing sport. I just enjoyed the feeling after (I got my breath back).

I spent a lot of time picking a photo. I’m not sure why I chose to go for the one above. I’d never even shared it on social media but it passed the checklist of not showing too much:

  • Skin
  • Weirdness
  • Teeth

After my post I had a rush of anxiety wondering what colleagues thought? Nothing changed. I still nod and smile as I walk past colleagues and throw out the ‘breathy hi’ every so often.

Some colleagues, who I already had more than a ‘greeting’ relationship with have said they enjoyed reading my post which has been nice. One of them even asked about the crowdfunding for the book. I ignored her email for a few days but she badgered me and I gave her the link. Which means I have to now give you the link. I don’t really but I’m going to.

If you want to know more about the crowdfunding book I’m part of check it out here: https://unbound.com/books/100-voices/

I am signing off now with a huge smile on my face because I’m back on the blog and it was enjoyable to write and copy and paste.

I’d love to know how you’d answer the questions that I was given. If you care to share – let me know in the comments.

Love Emma x

In other news – my Bell’s Palsy has almost gone and I’ve only gone and got myself a bloke ❤️ aren’t we cute together….