Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Do you know how many times I’ve heard, “’You’re so lucky! I have always wanted to <fill in the blank>”? That blank may be write a book, visit Harpo Studios (or home base of another idol), watch the RCMP Musical Ride and countless other aspirations.

Luck?

Luck has nothing to do with it! Living life to its fullest means living without regrets; that means stepping out of one’s comfort zone, taking risks, making sacrifices, following through and many other clichés.

All of this is not always easy; for example, my solo trip to Chicago for last year’s SOBCon: Biz School for Bloggers. A few weeks before I was due to fly most of the way across the continent, alone, I was in bed, in the fetal position, bawling out my eyes. I was terrified! All of the “what ifs” were flooding my mind. I desperately wanted to abort the trip.

Once I was cried out and dried my eyes, I ran through getting from Vancouver to Chicago step by step in my mind:

1. Take a taxi from home to the airport – I’ve done that before; the toughest is saying goodbye to Darrell.
2. Check in at the airline counter – I’ve done that several times before, fairly straightforward.
3. Get through security – Somewhat hairy with my possessions beyond my reach and even out of my sight, but…deep breath…survivable.
4. Board the plane – I’ve have also done that many times before; getting me onboard is in the hands of staff, I know the drill.
5. Fly umpteen thousand miles – Nothing for me to do.
6. Be without free access to a washroom – Causes trepidation in any middle-aged woman, but I did my research and was prepared with precautions, just in case.
7. Deplane – Again, something I’ve done before.
8. Find the nearest accessible washroom – I’m getting good at that!
9. Take a taxi to the hotel – Beth Rosen was kindly pre-arranging a taxi and might even meet me (which she did!).
10. Check into the hotel – Hell, if I fly alone across the continent, then I could surely check in at a hotel!

Suddenly what laid ahead wasn’t terrifying! A few weeks later I flew to Chicago without a single glitch.

Had I given into my fears, I would have missed out on my  trek to Harpo Studios, rocking SOBCon with my presentation and meeting the wonderful people who I met. I would have missed out on saying “I did it!” And that’s what living life to its fullest is all about!

Wow, what an incredible night for Canada! Figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir made history by winning the first ever gold medal in ice dance for Canada, for North America!

I held my breath during their amazing program; more nervous than they were. Watching them skate their flawless performance, I wondered what music kept them motivated on their journey to the Olympic Gold? Which songs repeatedly got them out of bed and kept them practicing when their bodies didn’t want to go any further?

I then thought of the songs that keep me going, striving for my gold. and came up with this list:

1. Never Give Up On Dream by my fav Rod Stewart

2. John Parr’s St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)

3. Tina Turner’s Simply the Best – who isn’t reenergized after this one?!

4. Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time

5. Peter O’Toole’s The Impossible Dream (The video’s audio isn’t the greatest quality.)

Which songs keep you striving for your Olympic gold – whatever that may be? What is your Olympic soundtrack?

After patiently waiting 101 days, Surrey’s turn to celebrate the Olympic Torch Relay finally came to Holland Park on Monday night. Twenty thousand people meant twenty thousands bums. Even though Darrell and I were close to the front, we could see nothing, not even the large screen. Well, nothing except for bums.

People didn’t move to let us through in our wheelchairs. I even tapped a cop on his arm and asked for help, but he brushed me off.

I was very disappointed, having wanted to see the torch live. In the last moment I did stand up to see whatever I could. But I felt guilty because my husband could not stand up; he saw nothing, except bums.

In my eyes, the only redeeming aspect of the evening was gold medalist wrestler Daniel Igali lit the community cauldron. Daniel also attended my alma mater Simon Fraser University; I felt that connection.

Not too often in life do we get a second chance, an opportunity for a redo. However, Tuesday morning I had such an opportunity – and I snatched it without second consideration!

The Olympic Torch Relay continued through Surrey, a few blocks from home, on its way to New Westminster. I took my place on the street corner, like millions of other Canadians have during the longest Olympic Torch Relay in history. This time I actually saw the torch!

And even managed to shoot this video on my little Nikon Coolpix:

Blogging has unquestionably increased my confidence when interacting with people face-to-face; particularly when meeting people from the blogosphere.

A bold statement, I realize. And how can it be when blogging entails spending hour upon hour at computer, typically alone? I began thinking what confidence really means.

The Oxford Dictionary offers these definitions:

1 firm trust (have confidence in his ability). 2a a feeling of reliance or certainty b a sense of self-reliance; boldness.

But, in my mind, something was missing. That’s a dictionary definition, but what does confidence really mean, at least to me? Then it struck me in simplicity and clarity:

Confidence is a sense of familiarity.

Allow me to explain how I rationalized this myself and see if it makes sense to you too:

By sharing my experiences, opinions and ideas on my blog and by leaving comments on others’ blog, people get to know me beyond my cerebral palsy or even before the cerebral palsy. Likewise, I get to know them through their written words. Hence, when we have the opportunity to meet in-person, there’s familiarity. They already know there’s more to me than my difficult-to-understand speech and my jerky movements, and, for the most part, we can bypass the initial awkwardness and carry our online relationship into the real world. And, from that, I gain confidence in my ability to approach people.

That confidence has led me to do things that I may not have otherwise. For example, I had been wanting to have my dog-eared and sun-faded copy of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income autographed by its two authors Chris Garrett and Darren Rowse – both top-notched and well-respected bloggers in the blogosphere. They are what I’ll like to be when I become a grown-up blogger.

Last year, after giving my rockin’ presentation at SOBCon, Chris was still seated at his table without a crowd around him. Taking a deep breath, I wheeled over and handed him the book. He kindly obliged.

At BlogWorld, with my presentation following Chris’s and Darren’s panel, I thought I’d have the perfect opportunity to ask Darren for his autograph. Unfortunately, the crowd wanting to ask them questions was too large; I had to get up on stage and set up for my presentation. I missed my opportunity and disappointedly thought I might not another chance to meet up with the Aussie blogger.

Then, while waiting for the last keynote to begin, I spotted Darren sitting in the last row across the aisle from where I was. Now was my chance! Pulling out the book from overstuffed laptop bag and taking another deep breath, I wheeled over and tapped him on his shoulder. Not sure he knew me from blogger Eve, I was surprised he knew who I was and that he apologized for missing my presentation. He also kindly obliged.

Thank you, Chris and Darren. Without blogging, I doubt I would have had the confidence to approach two industry leaders.

What does confidence mean to you? What might you accomplish in 2010 if you had the confidence?

Its that time of year again – time for creating lists of goals on clean sheets of paper in attempts of improving upon the old year and making the most of the New Year. Here are 21 of my bloggable goals for 2010 in no particular order other than in which they came to mind:

1. Sell the remaining 200 copies of my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself.
2. Find a way to make my book available on the Amazon’s Kindle.
3. Do a beta launch of <still secret project>.
4. Extend my reach in social networks and with social media.
5. Get my efforts in social networks and with social media working seamlessly and smoothly.
6. Relaunch my <still secret project> in a major way.
7. File taxes DURING tax season.
8. Redesign this blog’s theme with accessibility in mind.
9. Learn enough php to complete #8.
10. Attend a taping of Oprah’s show.
11. Further develop the “Faith the Talking CFO” concept and produce a series of YouTube videos.
12. Create an ebook or book from my <still secret project>.
13. Write one guest post per month.
14. Create a 2011 photo quilt calendar to sell on Cafe Press.
15. Comment on 10 blogs per week.
16. Redo www.BooksbyGlenda.com to generate enough revenue to cover domain and hosting costs.
17. Send 20-25 cards per month with SendOutCards.
18. Continue the Accessibility 100 series.
19. Complete the From Special Education Classroom to University Graduate mini-series. 
20. Participate in the Vancouver Blogathon in July. 
21. Feed 100 people in need Christmas dinner.

I will check back after the first quarter with a progress report

What are your goals for making 2010 your most awesome year ever?