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Recent additions to the website

This is a short one, but I’ve been working on making a few changes to the website with an aim to improve user experience and also to try and provide more value for readers (you’ll have to let me know in the comments if I have succeeded and if there are other things that would be of value either in functions/navigation or content).

Two notable additions are the About Me Page and the Resources Page - I’m going to go into a bit more detail with these two.

Resources

As many of you have probably realized, I’m an avid reader and I’m always on the lookout for new topics and books to read. It may surprise you to know that I’m a huge history buff and in particular medieval times. This came in handy when Kory and I lived in Scotland as we visited many historical locations and I must admit that I turned into a bit of a tour guide/narrator/geek at times as we visited places I had read about - bringing it all to life for me.

By the way, I really appreciate the recommendations that I’ve received and I’m the process of reading several Ian McEwan books that were recommended - please feel free to make recommendations and I’ll look to incorporate them into future blog posts as they fit into topics I’m writing about.

As a result, I thought that it might be useful if I compiled a page with all of the books, apps, courses etc. that I discuss in my blog posts in one place. Everything that I write about are from books or experiences that I have derived great pleasure and value from, so I’m just passing along my impressions/recommendations.

I’ve included links to the blog posts where the book/app/course etc. were referenced just in case you missed that one and are curious about how the resource links to what I’m writing about.

If there is anything that I’ve mentioned in a post or a comment that you’re interested in learning more about, or want added to the resource page - please let me know.

Writing an About Me Page

The second website project that I’ve been working on is to write an About Me page. Some people reading this blog know parts of my story and some know very little about me, so I was encouraged to come out from behind the camera and keyboard and introduce myself. By doing this I hope that it makes it easier to connect with my musings and perhaps find some common ground for connection.

I must admit that this was a tougher exercise than I thought it would be! I started out doing an outline of my life - after that dragged on for pages and pages, boring me silly - I stopped and regrouped - trying to identify some key moments in my life that got me to where I am now writing this blog and using my photography to enhance my experience and compliment my words.

That helped a lot and I narrowed my bullet points to several pages. Next I did what I do - what a lot of us do - I googled writing an About Me page for a website. Whatever did we do before google?

I found some really puzzling things when I did this - one article talked about how to write an About Me page that was engaging while creating a personable persona for your blog. I actually had to read it twice as I was rather baffled. Why would I want to create a persona? I have a persona - and it’s real and it’s me. Is it personable? I’m not sure about that - I’m introverted and often overly serious about things, but that is who I am (picture me belting out I Gotta Be Me right about now).

For me, writing this blog is about connecting and in order to do that I feel like I need to be as authentic as I can given the limitations of this medium, so I quickly closed that window and moved on.

How it all came together

I think one of the things I struggled with most of all was determining what particular parts of my life have led me to this point.

I have worked with a life coach for hmmmm more than 4 years now and one of the exercises Tracy has assigned was for me to write my eulogy. Yeah - try that for fun! She knows just the right things to make me squirm and get uncomfortable - which is usually where I learn the most, but more about that another time.

It was actually a really useful exercise in that it made me really think about how I would like to be thought of or remembered. Many of the things I’ve done or achieved didn’t make it anywhere near the final version, but rather my values, people and connections were at the core of the piece I wrote. I’ll have to dig it out again and maybe weave it into a future post - we’ll see.

When I pulled together all these threads of my life to this point - my drive to create connection and express myself creatively made a lot of sense.

In fact there were so many threads that led me to this point including where I was born, my parents’ love of books and reading, being uprooted and adopting families, an early love of the outdoors and nature.

Too many to list here (you’ll have to go read the About Me Page if you haven’t - that’s a bit cheeky of me isn’t it?).

Let me know what you think of the additions

I’m curious to know whether you’ve had a chance to check out the additions and if they add value to your experience visiting this website. As I navigate this “new to me” medium for expressing myself and this way of connecting, I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions for things that would add value be helpful for you.

I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.