Adventures in social media and who am I anyway....?

Regular readers will see I have unmasked myself with this post! I am no longer hiding behind a thin veil of anonymity, I have decided to change my profile picture and have an actual photo of my actual real face, instead of that tree I was hiding behind! I have decided to stop using a pseudonym and use my actual real name! OMG, I feel naked! If you know me in my actual real life – boo! Yes, it’s me! Hello. J

Why was I even hiding in the first place? What has changed?

I have to apologise for not posting earlier this month. I have been getting used to not having a job and I’m afraid the days have rather slipped by. I thought being unemployed would mean I would have lots of time to do everything I want to do, including blogging more. I had this rather unrealistic expectation that as soon as I stopped working I would have lots more energy. In fact, I have been pretty tired and foggy brained for most of January so far.

I have a half baked theory that this is partly because I’m making such a massive mental adjustment, from someone who had a career and a clear identity largely based on that, to someone who doesn’t anymore. I think my subconscious has been in a bit of a tailspin, wondering who I am, now that I’m no longer that person who had a clear and confident answer to the question “so what do you do?”

I’ve also been busy. Amongst other things I’ve been messing about on Twitter and  that alone can eat hours of time. In fact I’ve connected with some interesting people on there and uncovered some fascinating blogs. From being someone who about ten years ago was something of an expert in “new media” I hadn’t kept up with new developments. Twitter and the Blogosphere (I love silly words!) are whole new worlds for me. I’m enjoying exploring and playing. 

On the subject of having to give up work for health reasons I found a fellow thyroid blogger this morning who says it all, beautifully, check out: The Answer is Writing.

Another great thyroid blog I commend to you is Hypoman – he has just made a short video about his illness that will melt your heart, men are suffering with thyroid disease too!! And Hypoman not only shares his pain but is sweet and funny and touchingly philosophical about it too.  Bravo Robert!

And of course I’ve been busy doing stuff with the British Thyroid Foundation. I and two other volunteers had an initial planning meeting in December and are meeting again this Saturday, it’s all very exciting. (Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved, there’s plenty to do!)

The date we had set for our big meeting in March has fallen through, as the the room was double booked, but it will now definitely take place on 9^th April in the Atrium at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.  Leading endocrinologist, Mark Vanderpump, has agreed to speak and will be sharing results of a new study on thyroid disease and iodine as well as taking a Q&A session. It all promises to be fascinating and very informative.  I met Mark earlier this month and he was great, including suggesting some great speakers for future sessions. If you want to come you need to register in advance so please do so on the BTF site or email me.

We’ve had several other potential volunteers come forward who all sound wonderful and I hope to meet some of them on Saturday. Maybe you will be one of them - let me know if you’re interested!

Anyway, umm, to answer my original questions - what has changed?  Everything. Everything changes all the time. Who am I? Well I’m not ashamed and I’m not hiding anymore but I still don’t really know who I am these days, at least I know my name and I’m happy to share it with you. You can also find me on twitter @lojinks if you want to hook up on there. J Thanks for reading, please comment if you’d like to share too.  Thank you!!