A little over three weeks ago I was blazing down a hill in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, on the third of eight laps in an inline skating marathon. I remember thinking some not-repeatable thoughts as my left skate started to wobble, probably after hitting some negligible landmark like an acorn or twig. The resulting crash left me in the hospital (the WONDERFUL NY Methodist – can’t say enough great things about that place!) having surgery on my knee. Thankfully, there’s probably no permanent damage but I have been assigned to immobility for the longest time in my adult life, unable to bend the knee until the skin heals.
What does this have to do with my normally instructional, and maybe kind of boring, voice in this blog? Over the past month, I’ve learned some pretty cool things about my platform, new media and the kindness of supposed strangers. I think I’m going to be able to apply all these things in my work as I slowly recover. Here’s a list of just a few:
- My Twitter buddies expressed real concern and continue to check in on me while I’m getting better. I’ve only met one of them in person - @segnavia who even brought me a latte - but the others – @writesourcing, @dogwalkblog, @laurihart @dcwired, just to name a few – really do care! I think this means that I’m engaged in what used to be a purely professional pursuit, but what has now turned into a fulfilling daily experience, communicating with people I’ve never met all over the country. (Alternatively, Facebook friends have not provided as much good cheer – interesting in that most of them I HAVE met in person.)
- Along the same vein, my personal voice seems to be more important than my professional one. Or maybe it’s the same as when I was starting out in sales – I was always told we like to buy from people we know. Perhaps I’ve been too standoffish on my blog and even on Facebook – maybe that’s why folks are not as engage or interested in ‘buying’ what I’m writing. I’m going to work harder to ‘show up’ in both those mediums in the same way I show up on Twitter
- Without as much energy, and in the beginning with a great deal of pain, I’ve had to really budget my time working and engaging in social media. Although I’m still catching up a bit, my work quality hasn’t really suffered. If I can learn to take things more slowly – perhaps my work will improve without my deadlines suffering.
And finally, this accident was fairly dramatic. From the crash, to the emergency surgery, to wondering if I’d need skin grafts and such there continue to be some major ups and downs with this thing. I think people love drama and my life usually has quite a bit of drama. There’s a lot of interesting, cool stuff that happens to me – and I’m going to start sharing more in this blog and in my social media.
So stick around for more of my life, not just my professional advice, in the future. And here’s a teaser…eventually, I promise to tell you the stories about the Playboy bunny, Ralph Nader and my supermodel client phase. And MAYBE the one about David Hasselhof. But only after I tell @dogwalkblog first.