Ridiculously Human

A couple of months ago I read a post by a fellow blogger, who was questioning whether she could legitimately call herself a writer. I was quite surprised at her seeming lack of confidence in her abilities: of course you can! I wrote in the comments. You write blogs and you’ve even published a book! Why on earth wouldn’t you refer to yourself as a writer?

Last week I received an e mail and a tweet telling me that I have been shortlisted in the Best Writer category of the Mumsnet Blogging Awards:

Best Writer? I questioned to myself. What about all those other amazing bloggers out there? How on earth have I managed to get on to that shortlist?

Are you detecting a theme? We are always so good at recognising other people’s abilities and will be quite vociferous in our praise for them, but when it comes to our own strengths, we somehow become blind.

It is of course natural that we are our own worst critic. There are many times that I have been reticent to publish a post and that’s been the one that got the most hits. It becomes almost impossible to be objective about your own work. Is this why when we cook a meal it never tastes as good as when someone else has cooked it? Is it because as humans we are simply unable to properly appreciate our own creations?

This got me thinking about our kids. I know that there are many times that parents will wax lyrical about their children, but I often think that I am more likely to admire the achievements of other people’s children, than I am to shout about my own kids’ successes. I’m sure that I’m not alone. Of course I tell them how proud I am, but I rarely shout it from the rooftops. I appreciate their achievements, but it feels overly self-indulgent to announce them to the world.

But therein lies the dilemma. If we don’t tell people, then nobody will know and doesn’t everyone actually, really want people to know, because everyone feels motivated by praise. We all love to get a huge slap on the back, yet we’d rather turn our backs on the people that will give it.

I love writing, but if I wrote blogs that sat gathering dust in my computer I wouldn’t love writing so much. It’s the enjoyment that other people get from my writing that makes me love it. People’s comments make me ridiculously happy. This is a huge thank you to everyone who reads my blog and for all the encouragement you give me by saying to me: please don’t stop writing!

Part of me, somewhere deep down wants to shout about it. I feel that I should be telling people how incredibly honored I feel to have been shortlisted for the Best Writer award and how much it would mean to me to win. I would be dumbstruck, but I would be so excited that my writing has struck a chord.

So, I am going to say that if you enjoy my blogs, please vote for me by clicking on the link below. After October 7th I promise I will stop going on about it. I’ll regain all semblance of a human.

http://www.mumsnet.com/events/blogging-awards/2016/best-writer

Oh and before I go, I have also been commissioned to write a unique feature for GoodtoKnow, the on line home of Essentials magazine. I was picked as an August winner and this is the link to my post:

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/family/547265/holiday-with-teenagers-ultimate-parenting-challenge

Apparently, the post with the most views in the week it appears wins the opportunity to write a piece to be published in Essentials magazine. I hope you enjoy it. Please share 🙂

Thank you so much for all your support.