Before I begin today’s blog post, I want to give a happy birthday shoutout to one of my favorite bloggers. She is also my cousin. Happy birthday Katie. I always enjoy reading your content and you too are an amazing writer. I love learning about all your adventures and always feel like I’m there too. Thanks again for your kind words on my blog as well.
Yesterday turned out better for me than I thought. I had a good report from the doctor at my six month checkup. Sometimes it can be nerve-wracking because I’m not sure if my blood pressure will be high or not. The reading was good but I still want to pay attention to my health now that I’ve begun another year around the sun. We got our new fridge but had to remove a cabinet to get it to fit. Third, I attended my Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting. With a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon, I had to attend the meeting online but still had fun. I’m finally getting the hang of this zoom platform after four years. I was able to buy myself some time. Confused? Let me explain.
I read my texts and saw an email that said we would have 8-10 guests coming to our meeting. I thought it would have been last night’s meeting. That would have given me about three hours (doctor’s visit not included) to get about ten guest packets ready. We ended up having our usual members there, half in person and half online. The guests were going to be coming to the next meeting in three weeks. This lets me buy myself some time and get everything ready for the August 13 meeting. I also have time to put my action plan in place before our officer meeting in August for how I want to promote Laurel Highlands Toastmasters.
We put together our agenda for August 13, the night of our next meeting. I signed up to be a speech evaluator as well as invocator (we don’t do this at Greensburg). I’m also flexing my Spirit of Toastmasters muscles and planning visits to other clubs in August and into the Fall. I’m scheduling speeches in advance, including in two weeks at Greensburg and at the end of the month at Laurel Highlands. I plan on speaking again in September at Greensburg. These speeches will help me complete my Dynamic Leadership path.
It’s been an interesting ride as I began my path during the pandemic, struggled through my last months at my old job, and transitioned into a better one closer to home. I struggled with people who criticized my choices when I embarked on my “fashion journey” and broke into depression when I wasn’t hearing from anyone. I just wanted their approval so I wouldn’t feel judged. I probably could have benefitted by taking a Toastmasters hiatus and coming back (around the time when I was leaving WIS for Giant Eagle). Around 8-12 months, maybe.
My upcoming visits in August include Bakery Square and Allegheny Mountains in August online, and in person at Johnstown and Cranberry High Noon in the first few weeks of Fall. I’ll do another online visit to Western Maryland in November, and an in-person visit to Bakery Square in December as I work Christmas shopping into that visit.
Finally, I will be meeting online with my other Greensburg officers to plan things. We’ll hit on some acronyms including the CSP and the MOT. That session at Summer TLI helped me understand it better and I got to meet some of the new DuBois Area Toastmasters who were in my group. We’ll also talk about Free Toast Host and new member efforts. However it goes, I’m excited to make plans this second half of 2024.
Stylish 🍒 