I meet the most interesting people.

I used to be painfully shy.  I was afraid to talk to people.  I had a difficult time making friends.  I was afraid ALL the time.  Shortly after I graduated from high school, I decided something HAD to change!  I purposely threw myself into situations where I had to interact with other people.  It terrified me, but I did it anyways.  Why?  Because, I was sick of being afraid.  I hated the way it made me feel.  I hated feeling like an outsider while the rest of the world was…doing whatever it was they were doing.  LOL

I don’t remember when the change finally stuck, but twenty-plus years later, I am NOT that person anymore.  YAY!

I think the best part about being a recovering-shy-kid is discovering the TONS and GOBS of interesting people in the world.  TONS and GOBS!!!  Who knew?

I work in a job where I am required to talk to many, MANY strangers, EVERYDAY.  I didn’t have to work with the public.  I could have found a job where I could sit and hide in a nice cubicle and file “TPS” reports or something.  😉  Unfortunately, us recovering-shy-kids can never go back to hiding in the corner once we’ve made up our minds to quit being shy.  I’m not sure what would happen, but I’m certain it would turn out bad.  Terrible!  Perhaps there’d be ditch involved and getting eaten by wolverines…  I’m not sure.  Results may vary.  However, it doesn’t seem like best idea.  All things considered, I’d rather continue to work around people.

Unfortunately, in my quest to keep the shy-kid within at bay, I may have gone overboard in the opposite direction.  Today I talked to a random stranger at a local discount story.  He had at least eight shopping carts piled high with stuff.  Wouldn’t YOU be curious?  So I talked to random stranger.  It turns out he hosts a popular online web business.  See?  Cool!  I learned some interesting information from him.  Hey!  I’m not too proud to listen to advice from strangers.

*And yes.  I can hear the shrieks of, “AHHH!!!  You’re not supposed to talk to strangers!!!  Are you insane?” all the way from here.  Your concerns for my safety have been noted.

Most of the information I learned today wasn’t relevant to anything I’m working on, but we talked about taking pictures and he gave me this advice.  “Always take your own pictures if you have any kind of website.  ALWAYS.”  He said that’s what’s separated his business from the others that are out there.  He’s known competitors who’ve gotten into trouble for using images that weren’t theirs.  Not good.  He’s seen a lot of bad things happen when websites “Google” for an image and think it’s OK to use, just because it’s posted on the web.  “Big mistake!” he said.  In his business, he also wants the customer to be able to enlarge the images, so they can see the fine details on the items he’s selling.  Any while most of my pictures are of rocks, leaves, and whatnot, I wanted to share his advice, because…why not?  I’m a big fan of taking my own pictures and if hear some great advice, even if it’s random, I want to share it.

Have a great day!

Juli