Hardly anyone in my real life knows about my blog and vlog channel (youtube.com/theclosingbelle) but it is such a big part of my extra-professional life – almost every night I fall asleep to YouTube videos – that it feels really weird not being able to talk about it.
So I did something today that would have been unthinkable to a younger, more skeptical me: I not only told my coworkers about my blog and vlog channel, I gave a whole presentation on it!
My presentation was mostly focused on the business side of being a blogger/vlogger, rather than my actual personal channel and experience. They did ask about my channel’s analytics and one co-worker said, “I bet we can find it in minutes if we wanted to.” I don’t doubt that they can… And, co-workers, if you have found it, congratulations I am happy to work with such savvy Googlers.
I was so surprised by how engaged my office was – they asked a lot of questions and expressed genuine interest. And this makes me feel so regretful that I’d never talked about “my secret life” before. Far from being judgmental or condescending of my non-traditional hobby, they all seemed fairly supportive. Yay!
Big lesson of the day is: be proud of what you do. If it is interesting to you, no matter how contrasting it seems to what you do in your professional life, definitely share it. I think the folks I work with know me well enough to know that off-hours, I’m not reading War and Peace or directing a mariachi band. But now they know what I actually fill my personal hours with – and I’m glad about it.
Xoxo,
The closing belle
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BLOGTOBER: Blogging every other day in October!
