Drum roll ……… Today is the announcement of the winner of the winner for my Radio Flyer Competition which was provided by the very generous Wagon Company.
It’s been such a popular competition with 123 entries, Wow! Which is fabulous, but also means I feel a touch guilty about the people who lose. So I thought I’d talk about losing and winning before announcing the winner.
I’m totally convinced that we are all losers and all winners, just as much as each other. It’s just about perspective and looking for where we are winners and why it suits us where we are winners.
I’ve never won a trophy in my life, but last week I won the Small Business Category of the National UK MAD’s Blogging Awards. Honestly I would have been disappointed to lose, but I also didn’t think I would win, so I was incredibly chuffed (and still hoping that my Gwyneth Paltrow-like acceptance speech is lost forever!). All the people who didn’t win seemed really pragmatic about it, so I really hope that they realise that they are still fabulous. So maybe all the awards and trophies I didn’t win in my life add up to this one that I did win? Maybe in that week they got something else that is just as great (like a mention in the Guardian for one blogger). Perhaps something happened at work which is going to lead to a big promotion or project? Or it was nothing to do with work or blogging, but something they at last cracked with their children? Maybe their partner got a big break at work, which will give the family some security? Perhaps they will do well in one of the blogging lists, like the Tots100? Maybe they made an important connection on the night which will reap loads of rewards, even if it is just in friendship? Perhaps they had a fabulous dress (one lovely blogger I spoke to got an outfit from a company that was worth 3 times what I got from TK Maxx; but I still recommend trying out TK Maxx if you haven’t done it before, check out my tips on shopping at TK Maxx if you are nervous of the idea)?
The balance to my week is a husband who has been ill with shingles and skin infections for nearly 4 weeks now, and being blasted by anti-biotics that are making him have migraines and puke. I have a dog on deaths door, and it’s one of those horrid situations where we are going to have to make the decision for him. Plus Little Dimples (who was brilliant on the night of the awards), seems to be producing 4 eye teeth and a pile of back molars all at the same time; therefore sleeping more than 2hrs at a stretch seems to be impossible. Plus loads of other stresses that I wont bore you with now, because I’m sure you have got the point! This is not to complain, but just to show that life does tend to balance things out a bit.
There are loads of places that I’m not successful. You only have to look at facebook to get minorly stressed about what other people are achieving and you are not! I used to run a workshop for £175, and there is now a coach from the same background as myself running a similar workshop for ten times the price. Why is that? Because that is not where I’m meant to be. I’m meant to be here, writing blogs I love writing, and hopefully getting a best selling bookfor Mums out there into the world. If I was being successful at the other stuff I’d get all confused about what I was meant to be doing. That’s one of the reasons why I was so tearfully chuffed about the awards on friday night, because it was a ‘sign’ that I am going in the right direction after many years of hard work and training.
I heard some Mums talking about their weight on the night of the awards as though there was something wrong with them, whilst being very complimentary about my gorgeous dress from TK Maxx. But they didn’t see me 6 months ago before I lost 2 stone (check out my tips if you would like to do the same). Plus, I’m no Cheryl Cole, I’m just a 10-12. So they were being really harsh on themselves. I bet in the time it has taken me to get healthier in the last 6 months, they have been learning all sorts of fab techie stuff for their blogs, or doing something else that was much more interesting to them. Plus at 42 the motivation was probably much higher for me than for many of them; I’m already brainwashing my kids into having grandchildren so that I can play with them, so I have to be alive to do it! I might not be Cheryl Cole, but I’m blinking lucky to have 2 kids despite being told it was impossible at 19. It’s made me look at my still squidgy body in a whole new light.
So I hope that my ramblings this morning have made you look at where you are a fabulous winner and appreciate yourself!
As a present to you all this Video Wed is ‘Queen’ and ‘We are the champions’, blast it out LOUD!!!!
Ooops and the winner is …. comment No 61 (I counted from the top. There were 123 comments ignoring the mistaken duplicates and the one this morning at 8am) … Cath …. Congratulations, I’ll be sending you an email in the next 5 minutes to get your address and phone number and pass it on the the Wagon company.