Perception Check

When I was an employee of “Mortel”, I often took classes that were offered in-house. Everything was good to help better my yearly review. One of the courses I took was “Giving and Receiving Feedback”. At the time I was working as the first contact for the Help Desk and I was teaching karate four days/week. I had to give AND receive feedback regularly. I had enjoyed that class because it gave me certain tools that I was missing, like “perception check”. Being the way I am, i.e. direct and to the point, I’m one who will ask directly if something is wrong. With that class I’ve learned to ask in a way that I’m not “attacking” the other person and don’t rub people the wrong way. But, there’s always a “but”, I still do come across as “rough”, abrasive, or “blunt”. I’ve always been this way and to be honest it’s not something I’m really trying to change; the “delivery” or the “packaging” yes, but the “essence” not really...

I may be wrong in thinking this, and I’m more than willing to better myself (I do work at being a better person), but I also realised sometime ago that we can not please everyone. I’m ok with that. I know myself, my strength and my weaknesses and I also know that I am true, or real. Hubby often says “with you (us) you’ll get a straight answer, it may not be what you want to hear, but you’ll know where we stand”. He’s completely right about that.

I haven’t been blogging for years. I’m happy to see how my circle of “blends” evolved and how well, overall, my blog is doing. I know that there are periods where things seem to be slower; during the summer vacations, most blog less. The same thing happens during the Holidays. Life does get in the way. In the past, I’ve realised that I had lost some readers because of either something I posted that offended them or because my “content” wasn’t “proper enough” to be viewed at the office, etc. I sort of accepted that. I write “sort of” because a part of me felt like I was being judged. Nobody likes to be judge, really. We all want to be liked in some shape or form. It’s our human nature. Even if I don’t really enjoy being critiqued, I still welcome (that might be a bit strong, but hey…) feedback… Here’s where my old class kicks in:

I feel that I’m losing some of my regular commenters and that bothers me. I enjoy and read every comment I get. When I see a “missing regular” leaving comments elsewhere that raises a flag in my insecurities, and can’t help to wonder if I’ve lost that reader. I know, and understand that blogging is a shifting entity; people move around and read different blogs (I do it as well), our taste evolve and change. I do get that. But still, I can’t help and wonder… So, if you haven’t commented in a while, would you please be kind enough to do so and if you feel courageous give me some feedback about my blogging abilities, please?

Yes, I am looking for that tap on the back, that is how I feel today. Humour me, ok? If there is anything I can better, if you’re not coming by anymore because of something specific, I would like to know. I am not blogging for myself, I have a journal for that, I’m blogging for the interaction, because I want to be read, so if you stop reading then it defeats the purpose of me blogging, doesn’t it?