Yesterday we hosted a meeting for 12 of Snowy’s C-suite in our new home.  

It’s a thing they do to get out of the office a couple of times a year, go somewhere a bit different and plan and plot for the year/s ahead.

When Snowy told me he’d offered our new home as the venue for the next one I asked him “Hmmm, what will they eat, drink, how will it be stage-managed, what crockery and cutlery will be used, where exactly will you do it etc etc?“.    His face froze.

You get the idea, as a host and coordinator of many Events (3-day ones!) Retreats and group meetings, I really understand the need for the planning and plotting of how you want your group to feel.  How you want the group to experience the Event.  It’s not just about the content, it’s about the experience.

So, with my event-planner hat on, we pulled it off together.  With a hire company for the bits and bobs and a catering company for the food.

It was comfortable, smart, fun and full of food, sweeties and beverages.  I even included a couple of surprises Snowy didn’t know about 🤭.

What I realise today though is this.

I can do the whole hostess-with-the-mostess vibe and all my experience kicks in.  Then.  Without a doubt, I need to be quiet.  

Today is one of those days and I built it into my diary just knowing it would be how I’d feel.

When I learned a few years ago I’m “an introvert with extrovert tendencies” it was a game-changer.

It made me understand that my preference is ‘quiet, contemplative, intimate’ and yet I can do the more out there, on stage, chatting, socialising – but only to a point.

Even at social events I love the social chit-chat side AND I also love nipping off on the pretext to wash my hands.  Not necessarily to wash my hands as much as to have a moment of quiet.

I wonder what your preference is?  

• Do you love being amongst people and feed from their energy to boost yours?
• How do you know when you’re in your ‘happy place’ with others?
• When you’re surrounded by others, are you right in the middle of things or is your preference on the edges, the quieter side?

A book I want to recommend to you is this – to gain more understanding of your preference and why.  

Susan Cain “Quiet, The Power of Introverts In a World which Can’t Stop Talking“. Oh, AND her TED Talk which goes with it.

TED Talk here.  Over 31 million have already watched it…

And now, I’ve got some intentionally quiet things to do!

 In other news…

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Our hounds had a very social day yesterday too (and lots of people throwing balls for them at lunchtime) and didn’t have their normal quota of 9 hours solid kip!  Everyone’s taking it more slowly today…