While employed by others, I spent a lot of years maintaining strict boundaries and everyone’s privacy. In many of my work environs, it was not<\/em> a good idea to become part of the story, and any information shared outside of the office qualified as TMI. So, as a highly introverted advocate-turned-author, one of the things I struggle with is how to connect online without sharing too much about myself. The idea of “TMI Tuesday”<\/a> felt right, so, here’s my first attempt. (I hope the questions don’t get more difficult later on!)<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”As an introverted advocate-turned-author, I struggle with how to connect online without sharing too much.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been lucky enough to have dinner with some pretty extraordinary people over the years — some famous and some just plain fascinating. Right now, my dinner guest of choice would be my youngest stepson. Having him here would mean his passport woes are behind him and he’s getting to spend time with the American half of his family. (And, yes, we’d appreciate all the good vibes you can send in our direction, please.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. What would constitute a \u201cperfect\u201d day for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You mean aside from waking up on the right side of the dirt???<\/p>\n

So far today is pretty close to perfect. I got up early, caught up with some friends on social media, and found this blog idea, all while drinking<\/del> slurping<\/del> not spilling<\/del> savoring my first cup of coffee. There’s a gentle rain outside. I’ve got the windows open, the birds are singing their heads off, and the garden is full of fresh new growth. There are no outside commitments on my calendar and no critical end-of-the-day deadlines. I have two exciting, active projects in the works and lots of ideas about what I’ll be able to get to add to them today. And I’m only minutes away from My Favorite Husband returning from the gym. He almost always brings me a latte. (It’s the best of both worlds — like getting room service without having to leave home.)<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”It’s the best of both worlds — like getting room service without having to leave home.” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

I also enjoy perfect days exploring new places… or new looks at old, familiar places. I’ve got a few of those on the calendar.<\/p>\n

3. How much do you like your personality?<\/strong>
\n(pick just one)<\/strong><\/p>\n

a. A lot.<\/strong>
\nb. A little.<\/strong>
\nc. It needs work.<\/strong>
\nd. I am annoying sometimes.<\/strong>
\ne. I am difficult, and people have told me so.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m going to have to go with “c” — my personality needs work. While there are parts of me that are pretty OK, there are some parts that could be best described as “a hot mess.” I try not to injure others with those parts, to be at least a little bit better every day, and not beat myself too mercilessly when I screw up. I’m consoled by the fact that my dogs love me — or at least pretend until they get fed. Progress, not perfection, right?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neither.\u00a0My mind is\u00a0a whole lot better than it was at 30. My body? Eh… I’d look even more ridiculous. Seriously? Everybody’s got challenges. Whether physical or mental, I hope to keep learning from mine.<\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any ability, what would it be?” username=”AndreaPatten”]<\/p>\n

5. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any ability, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow ~ so many things. To be kinder. To lose fat and build muscle. To run long distances or return to downhill skiing without requiring another knee surgery. To write something that sells millions of copies….<\/p>\n

Maybe the best new ability I could hope for is to keep up with the ideas I have about trying things!<\/p>\n

\nHow about helping me out and making this more of a two-way street by answering one of these questions in a “comment”? (I really DO want to know.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While employed by others, I spent a lot of years maintaining strict boundaries and everyone’s privacy. In many of my work environs, it was not a good idea to become part of the story, and any information shared outside of the office qualified as TMI. So, as a highly introverted advocate-turned-author, one of the things I struggle with is how to connect online without sharing too much about myself. The idea of “TMI Tuesday” felt right, so, here’s my first attempt. (I hope the questions don’t get more difficult later on!) [bctt tweet=”As an introverted advocate-turned-author, I struggle with how to connect online without sharing too much.” username=”AndreaPatten”] 1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? I have been lucky enough to have dinner with some pretty extraordinary people over the years — some famous and some just plain fascinating. Right now, my dinner guest of choice would be my youngest stepson. Having him here would mean his passport woes are behind him and he’s getting to spend time with the American half of his family. (And, yes, we’d appreciate all the good vibes you can send in our direction, please.) 2. What would constitute a \u201cperfect\u201d day for you? You mean aside from waking up on the right side of the dirt??? So far today is pretty close to perfect. I got up early, caught up with some friends on social media, and found this blog idea, all while drinking slurping not spilling savoring my first cup of coffee. There’s a gentle rain outside. I’ve got the windows open, the birds are singing their heads off, and the garden is full of fresh new growth. There are no outside commitments on my calendar and no critical end-of-the-day deadlines. I have two exciting, active projects in the works and lots of ideas about what I’ll be able to get to add to them today. And I’m only minutes away from My Favorite Husband returning from the gym. He almost always brings me a latte. (It’s the best of both worlds — like getting room service without having to leave home.) [bctt tweet=”It’s the best of both worlds — like getting room service without having to leave home.” username=”AndreaPatten”] I also enjoy perfect days exploring new places… or new looks at old, familiar places. I’ve got a few of those on the calendar. 3. How much do you like your personality? (pick just one) a. A lot. b. A little. c. It needs work. d. I am annoying sometimes. e. I am difficult, and people have told me so. I’m going to have to go with “c” — my personality needs work. While there are parts of me that are pretty OK, there are some parts that could be best described as “a hot mess.” I try not to injure others with those parts, to be at least a little bit better every day, and not beat myself too mercilessly when I screw up. I’m consoled by the fact that my dogs love me — or at least pretend until they get fed. Progress, not perfection, right? 4. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? Neither.\u00a0My mind is\u00a0a whole lot better than it was at 30. My body? Eh… I’d look even more ridiculous. Seriously? Everybody’s got challenges. Whether physical or mental, I hope to keep learning from mine. [bctt tweet=”If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any ability, what would it be?” username=”AndreaPatten”] 5. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any ability, what would it be? Wow ~ so many things. To be kinder. To lose fat and build muscle. To run long distances or return to downhill skiing without requiring another knee surgery. To write something that sells millions of copies…. Maybe the best new ability I could hope for is to keep up with the ideas I have about trying things! How about helping me out and making this more of a two-way street by answering one of these questions in a “comment”? (I really DO want to know.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,17],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-11757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media","category-thinking","category-visiting-authors-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11757"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=11757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}