Hi everyone!
First of all, apologies for disappearing and not reading or responding to your comments.
Yes, I’m talking to you – those of you who are still reading… the ones I bully into reading and those who somehow find their way here.
I do hope that eventually my stories draw you in without me having to nudge you.
Anyway, I digress…
As I was saying – hello! 😍 And thank you for reading.
So, I survived my work trip/training!!
Read about my worries here 🙂
It was four days of a pretty intense timetable. Our days started at 7:45 am with breakfast, followed by our first session at 8:30. The last session usually finished around 5–5:30 pm, then dinner was at 6:15 PM .. and so on.
On the first morning, I ran into traffic, missed my exit and ended up running into the introductory session huffing and puffing.
Excellent start. **shakes her head **
But then I spotted a familiar face – and an empty seat next to him.
It was an ex-colleague.
I felt myself exhale the breath I had been holding.
He introduced me to others at the table between sessions. Mutual connections were discovered, some ice was broken, and I also spotted a few people I had come across at other conferences and events.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem quite so daunting.
Meanwhile, in the background, my family was picking up Jordan, which had me sneakily checking my phone at every opportunity I got.
We went on a little excursion that afternoon and, by then, there were three other people who were almost as invested in Mr J’s homecoming as I was.
I won’t lie… it got easier as the day went on.
And at some stage during dinner, I found myself telling a story to the table.
Our days were very structured. Some felt incredibly hectic and by evening we were mentally drained.
It almost felt like we were at boarding school!
We were also very well fed – four times a day. Almost everyone complained about how much food there was and how much we were eating… while helping ourselves to more food.
The dinners were sit-down meals and felt very fancy.
There were simulated activities, hands-on training, some great speakers and even a few impromptu presentations from us.
I also had some great conversations with the speakers during our breaks.
One of them actually sought me out afterwards and told me they had noticed and appreciated me nodding and interacting during their presentation.
That stayed with me.
Sometimes even the most confident people need someone in their corner.
There was one speaker I absolutely adored – maybe just a little more than the others – and of course, I told her!
She spoke about showing up as her authentic self and wanting her colleagues, friends and the people around her to remember her more for how she made them feel than anything else.
It literally felt like she had climbed into my head and was speaking my thoughts.
So I told her that too.
I told her that if I’d met her outside of this course, we could totally be friends – but for now, I was quite happy being her fangirl!
She had the biggest smile as I walked away.
And I thought – everyone needs to hear when their words have touched a chord.
Over those four days, I laughed and I cried. Some presentations triggered memories of work I’ve done over the years; others touched parts of my personal life.
But more than anything else, this course reminded me why I do what I do – and just how much I love my work.
And I survived and lived to tell the tale!
By the last day, I had made some friends and approximately 80% of the people there – including one of the catering staff – knew about my puppy.
There was one night when I was exhausted and wanted to get a drink but absolutely did not want to talk to another human.
So I asked SP to stay on the phone with me while I grabbed my drink and rushed straight back to my room.
Because apparently both things can be true.
I can enjoy being around people.
And I can be completely people-ed out.
Would I do something like this again?
Absolutely!
Would I still be worried?
Maybe… but not quite as much.
Did I enjoy myself?
200%
Both being around people… and being people-ed out.
I loved being around people. I also loved escaping to my room when I was completely people-ed out.
What can I say? I’m an introverted extrovert.
And apparently, I can go it alone.
