Blog worth following

A tutor at Chester University (where I have just finished) is doing a charity bike ride in America...a long one!

He is blogging about it, and it's a fascinating read, usually on a daily basis.

Please read and support...great work for a great cause :)

Click here to see The Charity Ride blog.

First Impressions Matter

The following is a piece that I wrote a while ago based on a previous experience. I just thought I would share it with you here on my blog:

A handshake to me was always something that older people did. It was a formal act in my opinion, and suggested that two people didn't really know each other that well, if at all. Whether or not the hand shakers knew one another was not a concern for me though; by looking at people and the way they shake hands, it is not difficult to tell how they relate to one another. I took the view that handshaking was just like saying "hello", so it didn't really matter how you did it.

The first part of this statement is true, the second is not! Hand shaking is in fact a way of saying "hello", and in the same way, it does matter how you go about it. If you say "hello" to someone in a tone that suggests you really don't want to be there, they can sense it. If you smile and say hello, the greeting takes on a different meaning. The same goes for a hand shake.

If you are meeting someone for the first time, the handshake is the first opportunity they get to relate to you on a personal level. If you are not meeting for the first time, it is likely to be more informal, and doesn't create a lasting impression.

I learnt this the hard way. As a young woman, I tried to avoid hand shaking. It was quite an embarrassing situation to find myself in, and evidently, my handshake showed this discomfort. On work experience at a local radio station, I met someone for the first time in the kitchen. I said hello in a friendly manner, and tried to come across as a confident young woman, even though inside I was quite nervous.

The woman then came over to me to shake my hand. I was thankful that my hand was not clammy, so I continued in my usual manner to shake her hand in a loose and reserved manner. This turned out to be my biggest mistake of the week. She told me that I had an awful handshake, and it showed that I was not confident, and did not like the situation I was in. Okay, this was partly true, but I did not want it to be so obvious.

After some conversation about the handshake, I learned that it should always be a fairly firm grip, accompanied by good eye contact and a confident smile. Suddenly, handshaking felt important. I had learned a valuable lesson to take to future job interviews, and also social situations.

This is not to say that when you meet friends you have to firmly shake hands and appear confident. Of course, the handshake depends on the situation, but clearly as my experience shows, a handshake is a gateway to your personality.

Reflection

Tonight I have been browsing other blogs just to get a feel of what people use their blog space for.

Personally, I wanted mine to be kind of like a diary (without the private stuff!) that I could look back on and remember things.

I found a blog tonight that truly reflects how I would love to write. I would enjoy writing about little things that happened, and explaining my feelings about them. Perhaps I just don't have the patience or the drive to write so poeticly any more.

Anyway, here is a link for anyone who is interested. You may even have already seen it...

http://ricksgarden.blogspot.com/

While I am feeling reflective, may I also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to my friends, family and my fantastic boyfriend for all of their love and support over the years, to get me to where I am today.