So here goes my first blog, EVER! I feel like I’m about to embark on a roller coaster ride. I’m excited and freaked out all at once, very much like the scenario we are discussing this week. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the things discussed during our sessions and there is one area that keeps popping up in mind (at really weird times if I may add) the ‘professional me’ versus the ‘home me’.

It is one of the reasons I have decided to challenge myself and write this blog as the ‘home me’. Which means you’ll be subjected to my: very bad sense of humour, my no-filter opinion and an emotional side that can cloud my judgement. As I write them down I realise I have been convinced to believe that they are bad qualities in a professional life and that there is no place for the ‘home me’ at work. However, I have matured over the years and I’ve come to learn that these are the elements that actually define and make me the person I am today. My bad sense of humour often breaks the ice and makes people feel comfortable with me. My no-filter opinion helps me get to the root of the problem and my emotional and sensitive side allows me to be empathetic to others.

Trust me, this reflection hasn’t just dawned on me as I write this post at 6:44 am on a Sunday morning but it has come with years of being knocked down for being me. Years of trying to figure out that I need to OWN these traits. Years of building confidence by experimenting with how much of my ‘home me’ do I bring to work. But you know what? I bring all of me to work, I’ve come to realise that my work me and my home me make me: ME, it just depends on the situation.

So on that note, back to ONL#191. I’m owning being ‘me’ and looking forward to learn how that flies in the online space. How much empathy is too much or too little? How does that look in the online space? How much humour is appropriate and when? How does my level of no-filter go down with others online?

On that note, Happy Sunday I’m off to eat my breakfast!

Alexia