ok, the homework is to talk about a recent example where other people had more confidence in you than you had in yourself.

My trial by fire came at church yesterday. It proved to me how valuable I am.

I usually do the Liturgy of the Word for Children with the Religious Ed director, but her daughter had gone into labor early that morning. Eileen also had the book of readings and prayer in her car.

So I "winged it" and it went very very well, had quite a conversational piece, I honestly felt that the Holy Spirit was working through me.

Then Father sent down another bunch of kids for Liturgy during the 11:30 am Mass, (when I was doing the Preschool/Kindergarten program), so that made life very interesting for me!

but it showed how much I am really needed there.
(I also managed to have a nice little convo with Gabe, yay!)

I friend just emailed me and some group needs a trombone player to play Handel's Messiah.

My initial negative reaction is, “If he’s emailing me, he must really be desperate.”

But he didn't HAVE to email me... obviously he has confidence in me… so I guess a positive way to look at is… he is desperate and knows I can cover the part…

Rehearsal is in 4 hours.

Hmmm...

My boss had me write up a memo to our director suggesting why I need to stay in our department after it is dissovled, so that we have an extra person to pick up the slack. When I showed her the rough draft, she only corrected one thing...

Instead of putting "have a nice day" at the end, she suggested I thank him for his time and thought into the matter.

I guess I'm not as inarticulate as I thought.

One of the training gurus at my gym makes me quite nervous when I know he's watching me with clients. Honestly, he scares me a bit because I always feel like he is correcting me. Last week, he paid me a really nice complement about being a good trainer and was recommending me to one of his own clients who wants to start doing some group exercise work.

I come from a family of very talented, crafty, artsy people. My mother could do counted cross stitch that would swear it was a painting. My brother is a musician who plays with all the big orchestras and symphonies in our area. My neices are very art minded.....even my husband is an artian in food. Me, I have always been told that I am not an artsy, crafty person. I am the organizer. Well, that I am, and it's a gift. But I have proven to people that I do have art in my blood, I am a wonderful paper craftsperson. I love making cards, doing scrapbooks, etc for people. I share my love for them in that manner....WOW, who would have guessed

I've had a couple of things happen recently that really boosted my confidence.

The first happened about a month ago. I have a friend who was at that time on dialysis (has a new kidney now!!). I went to her sister's wake. As I went through the line greeting her family, her mom took my by the hand and personnally introduced me to all of the extended family as "this is the friend who does so much for Patty" then plops me right in line with the rest of the family so she can introduce me to everyone else walking in. I don't see her family very often and was completely caught off guard that they felt that I was part of the family.

The other happened with my job search recently. When I interviewed for an Assistant Manger's position at Marshall's. I knew It was a bit beyond my experience, because of the volume they do, but what the heck, might as well try. After interviewing with 3 different people, I recieved a call that indeed I did not have enough experience for the position, however they were going to add in another coordinator position so that I can get the volume experience behind me and eventually move up. Wow adding a position rather than just pass me by and take the next person.

Laurie

Ever since school, I have been down on myself about my math skills. I don't think it was ever because I was so horrible at math but that my weakness in math was magnified by how easily everything else came to me in school.

I was out to lunch this past Friday with my former assistant, who has never learned to figure out what to tip on a restaurant bill without a tip chart. When the check came (combined for both of our lunches), she handed it to me and said something like "Could you tell me what I owe? You are so good at this math stuff." I took the check and calculated her lunch plus tax and tip in my head in just a few seconds and then did the same for my own. It helped me to realize that I am not so pathetic at math as I tell myself I am.

I have been learning a new programming language and working with a couple of new people for me in Atlanta. I have been really pleased about how quickly I'm picking it up and how happy they both seem to be about my work. I'm also getting lots of good feedback from my 2 bosses about this collaboration.

Peg

When I was deciding whether or not to return to work after my youngest was born, I talked in great detail with the HR director of the company about my choices. I wanted to try looking after kids at my home to supplement my husbands income, but I was afraid to quit and then have the daycare idea not pan out. The HR director told me that I would be an indispencable asset to any company and if I decided to return to the workforce to give her a call. If I lived in Toronto she said that I could have the pick of any job as I have both official languages.

I was surprised that she thought that way about me and my work.