15 Minutes of Fame and Terror

Stroller update: After my (admittedly excellent) complaint letter I sent them, the company responded in less than 24 hours and picked up, couriered and fixed the stroller all at no cost! Well done, Britax.co.nz!

On a similar note, our pretty cool phil&teds high chair almost killed the child, when the screws became loose in their plastic and the base of the table fell off. I complained on their website repairs request form, and despite not having a proof of purchase (I uploaded a note stating as such in place of the required proof), the company have sent out a replacement chair at no cost. Well done, Phil&Teds NZ!

Now - on with business.

I've been submitting some of my blog posts as articles for different news/current affairs outlets here in NZ recently, in a bid to get a bit more practise writing, a few more things to add to my writers CV, and to gain a bit more exposure in the hope of actually one day getting paid to write (one can hope).

I didn't expect much to come from it, and then, out of the blue (on the one day that our internet decided to crash and leave me without access for 24 WHOLE HOURS(!!), my Mum calls me (which she never does, it's always me doing the calling - just sayin' mum) and practically screams into the phone;

"What on earth have you been up to!"

I had no idea what she was talking about, and responded in kind.

After much to-ing and fro-ing I finally managed to extract from her overexcited self, that my face was apparently plastered all over the nz news website 'stuff'.

I feel that 'plastered' may be a bit of an exaggeration. As is, 'making it to the front page' as my sister delighted in telling me, those stories are not above the fold after all. But, it was definitely there.

I felt a bit proud about it all, and when I was able to have a look at it, the number of comments and likes and shares was simply staggering.

My first thought was;

"Oh my god my face is on stuff and hundreds of strangers have read my story!" 

Which promptly sent my stomach into somersaulting flips of socially anxious terror. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that everyone would know it was me. Everyone was going to be judging me. I was never going to be able to leave my house again!

I breathed.

I told myself that was ridiculous.

I said "in a week, no one will even remember the article. Let alone, who wrote it."

Then I smiled, realising suddenly, that someone with Social Anxiety Disorder would not be able to do this. That a few years ago I wouldn't have even posted a picture of myself on the internet, or commented on something online, let alone considered sending such a personal story complete with a picture, into NZ's most popular news site. The social anxiety disorder which has plagued me for nearly two decades, and which would have rendered me an absolute panicking wreck had I been in the same position in the past (which would never have happened because I never would have written a public blog ever!), was no longer there. 

Finally, I am taking pride in what I actually love to do, and making a go of it. I shouldn't be ashamed, I should let myself read the comments, surely that many comments can't be all bad. So I took another breath, and I read some of them.

And then I read some more.

And I was amazed, every single comment (103 so far), was either from someone who had been through a similar experience, or from someone who was being supportive. 

1,200 people were moved enough by my writing to actually hit the facebook 'like' button and post it to their page. 

This.
Is.
Insane.

My second thought was;

"Why didn't I include a link to my blog!"

Maybe I'll have to submit another story...