A Few Things You Don’t Know About Me

Today we’re getting up close and personal.  I love reading blog or Facebook posts where the writer tells 5 to 7 things about themselves that most people don’t know.  I guess I’m just naturally curious about people, and love learning more about them.  I hope you like that kind of post too.   (You’re going to find out about some of my neurosis!)  If not, we’ll be back to talking about sewing projects and home renovations soon!

So, here we go –

1.  I’m an extreme introvert.  I would rather sit at home and read a book than go to a party and make small talk.  I have no problem having in-depth, one-on-one conversations with people that I know well.  In fact, I love connecting with friends and family, I would just rather not be in large groups with people I don’t know very well and try to make idle chit-chat.

I read something once about introverts and extroverts.  Basically, what it boiled down to was that extroverts love being in a crowd and actually draw energy and get pumped up by being with a lot of people, but an introvert is worn out by the same experience.  They’ll even have fun, but they are drained when it’s over.

2.  I’ve had an extreme fear of public speaking since high school.  I had a bad experience while giving a reading at my church when I was in high school, and then another bad experience during speech class my senior year of high school.  This has been a big problem for me.  I don’t just get butterflies in my stomach when I have to speak in public.  I have full on panic attacks.  My heart races, my throat closes up, I literally can’t hardly speak, my body shakes and my mind goes completely blank.  It’s an awful feeling, and I’ve tried to avoid public speaking whenever possible since high school.

When Craftsy contacted me last summer and offered me the opportunity to teach an on-line class for them, I almost turned it down because of my fear of public speaking.  Luckily, my sister-in-law knew how hard filming the class was going to be for me.  She offered to work with me to see if EMDR therapy would help with the extreme panic attacks.  My sister-in-law is trained in helping people who have post traumatic stress syndrome using EMDR therapy.  EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and I don’t understand exactly how it works, but going through the therapy did help me.

To be honest, when she offered to work with me, I didn’t think it would help me at all, but I was desperate.   I was having several panic attacks every day just thinking about the filming, and had a constant feeling of dread.  We started the therapy 2 or 3 weeks before I flew out for the filming.  By our third session, I was feeling much better, and was even started getting excited about teaching the class.  I was still nervous the first day of filming, but at least I wasn’t having the debilitating panic attacks.

3.  I also have an extreme fear of heights.  Ladders and I aren’t friends.  I can go up a couple of steps, which is how high I usually need to go to install draperies for clients.  If I have to go any higher than a couple of steps, I break out into a sweat, get dizzy and want to get down!

When I was growing up, I lived on a farm that was a couple of miles from a small town that had fireworks on the Fourth of July.  Some years my family and I would climb up to the roof of the one-story addition on our house to watch the fireworks.  I loved being on the roof once I got up there, but dreaded going back down on the ladder.  I remember my dad being very patient with me, trying to get me to go down the ladder.  The worst part was that first step!

4.  I love to binge watch TV shows on Netflix with my husband.  It’s a great way to watch shows that we haven’t seen before.  We’ll watch the whole series of a show over several weeks, and I love that we can watch them back-to-back with no commercials!  Some of the shows that we’ve watched and enjoyed are Friday Night Lights, Lost, Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

5.  I love to wear the same clothes.  I’m not sure when this started happening, it’s been going on quite a few years ago though.  I think that maybe it’s part lazyness, and partly wanting to simplify my life – one less decision I have to make.  In the summer I wear neutral shorts, a white v-neck shirt and sandals.  In the spring and fall I love to wear button down shirts with a collar with jeans.  I have the same exact style of shirt in several colors.  (If you watch my videos, you may have noticed that I’m wearing one of these in every video).  In the winter, I wear a lot of black sweaters and jeans.  When I work out, I have several of the same shirts that I wear with black yoga pants or shorts.

When I find an article of clothing that I love the style and fit of, I’ll go back and buy several of the same item.  I really don’t like it when I find something I love to wear, and it’s not in stock or not available anymore.  So, I try stock up right away.

6.  I’m addicted to sugar.  Particularly chocolate and a certain soft drink.  I didn’t know until a few years ago the you could become addicted to sugar.  I go in cycles with it.  I’ll start drinking a soft drink every morning while we’re on vacation (I don’t drink coffee), rationalizing that I deserve a treat since it’s vacation.  I’ll also eat more chocolate and ice cream when we’re gone.  I always think that I can just stop eating all of the sugary foods when we get back home.  But, it’s not that simple, the willpower just isn’t there.  I start eating more and more sugar because I’m craving it.  It makes me feel yucky and tired, so I eat even more just to get that burst of energy to get through the day.  It’s a vicious cycle.

Recently, my husband and I watched the documentary, Fed Up, on Netflix.  It was eye opening.  It’s all about sugar, and how it’s so hard to eat anything that doesn’t have some kind of sugar in it.  Sugar is being added to so many processed foods now.  We immediately went to the pantry and started looking at the labels on the food we buy and eat all the time.  Wow, sugar was in almost everything we looked at – even the spaghetti sauce that we love to use.

I’m trying to not eat as much sugar right now, and I do feel better.   Hopefully, I can use some self-control the next time we go on vacation, and not get started with all of the sugary foods and drinks again!

Whew!  That was a lot of baring my soul!  I’m thrilled that you’ve stuck around and read the whole post.

What are some things that most people don’t know about you?