so, what’s your story?

hi everyone 🙂

how are you? hope you are doing well.

the weather is not very great over here in Sydney. it’s been raining on and off for almost 3 days.

it’s gloomy..and sad. well. not sad sad- just a little unhappy weather.

today is a pretty important day. firstly, tonight is the Mardi Gras party in Sydney.

it’s a big thing, and according to the evening news, thousands of people come down to Sydney from overseas to watch this parade. pretty big, huh?

I haven’t seen it myself. ever. -how lame- yes. i can’t help it though. it’s the 5th year for me in Sydney and every year I’ve been missing Mardi Gras parade. for whatever reason.

well, today, i couldn’t make it for a good reason. at least to me it’s justified. 🙂

today i attended the Healthivate 2.0 the blogger conference, organized by Kathie Melocco. Kathie is an Australian online marketer, content producer and blogger with an integrated voice across a variety of health related businesses. She blogs at The Brave Discussion.

Healthivate 2013 is a 1-day Blogger Circle, otherwise known as a Social Health un-conference and a movement that encompasses – Eating. Living. Giving. Movement Building. (follow #hivate on Twitter)

it’s me and YES i’m a blogger!

it was so inspirational. i met lots of bloggers. great bloggers. and not only from Sydney, but also the other part of the world.

Carly and I- she’s so lovely and friendly!

and i feel so shy. really. but i did make friends. i met Carly Findlay of Tune into Radio Carly, and her lovely mom, Jeanette (Carly, sorry if I spell it incorrectly!).

Mia Stead and I

and Mia Stead of Dandelion. She is so brave sharing her story today.

i met Catherine Saxelby of Foodwatch and said hi 🙂 today she spoke about supermarkets, food supply, and marketing hype. She did very well and I look up to her. It’s not easy to talk about such ‘sensitive’ topic (quite sensitive between the health professionals aka dietitian/nutritionists vs food industry).

it was such a great day and in the space of 10 hours i learnt so much i was mentally exhausted that i had to crash on my couch as soon as i got home- am i getting old?

and look what’s inside the goody-bag by macro!

Macro (only at Woolworths) is the proud sponsor of Healthivate 2013

and there were many more speakers that were absolutely amazing- David Lee, Lorraine Murphy, Louisa Claire, Brenda Gaddi, Lyndey Milan, Dr George Margelis, Jason Berek Lewis, Rochelle Solsky, Gerry Tye, Jessica Gottlieb (#1US Blogger on Twitter ranked by Klout), Cindy Luken, Sara Leonardi-McGrath, Anna Coles, Antony Lo, Alexx Stuart, Dr Gabrielle Morrisey, Clare Diaz-Ortiz (delivered through phone from Mexico!), Lillian Rodrigues-Pang, Ingrid Ozols, Evelyn Field, Zahrina Robertson, Lori Dwyer, Diane Lennard, and Karina Brisby (another phone interview from UK). the mc was Mark Jones.

the last speaker was Dr Sam Prince. He recently launched the Plate4Plate initiative in partnership with Action Against Hunger, and is the Founder of the not-for-profit One Disease at a Time, which aims to systematically focus, one by one, upon significant diseases affecting Australians today, with the aim of improving the basic standard of health of all Australians.

I have never heard of him before and I was so amazed how much he has achieved (and also given back to the community) at such a young age!! I’m a big fan!

it was so inspirational and i’m glad i attended this conference. there is so much to learn and one single post won’t be enough to cover it. i even did a laughter yoga session for the first time in my life!

however, it got me thinking. what’s my story? what’s your story?

blogging is not about someone else. it’s about authenticity. it’s about your story. it’s about my story.

and remember that everyone has a back story. and everyone has the other side of them that you may never know of.

so as i was driving back home, i was thinking. what’s my story? why did i start blogging?

well. it’s quite simple really.

if you know me as a child..or teenager..i was a very talkative girl. i just could not stop talking. and i still am a talkative person. but nowadays i think i’m pretty good to know when to stop talking. it’s like..that poster. keep calm and drink a cup of tea. or my version is keep calm, STOP talking and BLOG it away. LOL

yep. that’s me. i was super chatty- i might have annoyed some people in the past- i apologize if i did- teenager me did not have any other platform to share apart from those few hours at school- or an-hour-after-school-phonecall with my BFF (whom i sat next to in class!!). lol even my friends called me a ‘walking radio’ as i just couldn’t stop talking.

when i came to Sydney, i learnt that i couldn’t talk with my friends and family as much as i used to. and as we all get older, we have different interests.

i quickly learnt that when i talked to people about my interest in diet, health and nutrition, some people might not necessarily enjoy it. they get bored. when i talked about food allergy and intolerances, and how to make-over a recipe so it’s allergy-friendly, they roll their eyes (they probably think- this girl is a bit lunatic- who knows?).

and i learnt that my friends and family overseas are probably still at work or busy with something else whilst i have this burning desire to spill my story (there is 4 hours time difference between Sydney and Jakarta at the moment).

so here i am- blogging, writing and sharing my thoughts. i am hoping that there are people out there who find my blog useful and helpful..(dear readers, are you there?)

and i hope that through blogging, i can learn how to communicate, how to share my knowledge and hopefully help others who are in need.

i’m still new- a baby in this blogging world, but i’m as excited as a puppy and dear readers, you can always help me spread the words!

🙂

have a good night and until next time!

ps. please head over the Healthivate website to read more about the event and speakers 🙂