Based on feedback both online and in real life: my cheerful nature.
I may have written about this before, but when I was a preschooler, no one would have described me as cheerful. My mom, distressed about my life attitude, actually had me memorize verses from Proverbs about cheerful hearts. Ha.
Perhaps it’s because of the memory verses, or perhaps it’s not, but I definitely turned a corner, and my parents both would describe my grade school/teen self as cheerful.
Moving online: probably the most common thing I hear from people who read my blog is something like:
- “I love how cheerful your posts are!”
- “Reading your blog gives me good, calm feelings.”
- “I feel happier after I read your posts.”
So, sometimes I think my job as a blogger is less about helping people save money and more about spreading good cheer around the internet. 🙂
I’m guessing this will be somewhat true when I work as a nurse as well.
I mean, I hope that I will be a competent nurse (I’m studying hard to that end!), but I also imagine that a lot of the value I will provide to my patients and co-workers will come from having a kind and positive attitude.
In real life: I guess efficiency–I get a lot done when I need to–and food. Most everyone in our community has gotten bread from me at one time or another. Sometimes also jam, garden produce, applesauce, cookies, or even a full meal for people who are moving, sick, or otherwise need extra help.
Online: The thing I most hear is that people appreciate how “real” I am. Which is funny, because I wouldn’t even know how to NOT be real. Like, stage the background when I take a photo of my kids? How do you even do that? So much easier to be “real.” 🙂
I’m told that I always give unique and just right gifts-that I think of things that are “out of the box” thinking but perfect for the recipient. It’s nice to know this from them.
Probably my usefulness and dependability.
I can definitely see both of these traits in you!
I’m somewhat known for being good at picking out gifts, too. I don’t always get a hit, but I do get one pretty often. I’m always happy to hear when a gift was a real success.
I’m also known as the person to ask. I don’t remember much chemistry or trigonometry, but I can remember trivia and odd details for decades. I’ve been called the walking encyclopedia before, ha. People like to know I can probably help them out with an obscure fact.
I have had people tell me they appreciate my assertiveness (unless it is aimed in their direction) and how I don’t seem afraid to confront bosses/upper management. My proudest moment with the latter was when a state agency I worked for started to implement a redundant and useless protocol that would have added considerably to the workload of the people I supervised. I flat out refused to require my unit to use it, and when I was threatened with firing I told them to go ahead because I had enough savings to live off of and also a husband who made a good salary. They didn’t fire me and when someone in another part of the state heard about it, they said, “I heard Lindsey refused, and so do I.” (Alaska is a small state humans wise so people know each other in ways someone working in a more populous state would not) That was not the only person who refused by using my name and, in the end, the new protocol was quietly dropped. I thank my father, who taught me that I should never let my employers think that I needed the job to survive because then they would abuse you. Even when I desperately needed my job, early in my career when I had grad school loans, I acted that way and it made my life as an employee much better.
That I know people. 😀
I have a hobby of knowing lots of people and knowing people who know people.
So when a friend died of covid in Brazil, the people handling the logistics of helping his wife and ten children move back to the US needed a contact in X airport layover location to help. They contacted me and I put out word via FB and had a cousin’s best friend’s cousin on the phone within half an hour. He was a pastor in that city and put his church family at our disposal for helping.
Or when my brother and family were traveling 22 hours straight from VA to KS, my mom asked if they had emergency plans in case the winter storm hit early.
Brother: “We have Dorinda’s cell and she knows people all along I-70; what more do we need?”