So, huge shout out to Tanya at “The Phat Girl Blog” for nominating me for The Mystery Blogger Award. While I have previously participated in the Sunshine Blogger Award as well as recently the Blogger Recognition Award, I had never heard of or been nominated for the mystery blogger award.

You can read Tanya’s response and post here: The Mystery blogger award – I’m flattered!

The rules for the mystery blogger award

1. Put the award logo/image on your blog
2. List the rules
3. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
4. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well
5. Tell your reader three things about yourself
6. Nominate 10-20 new bloggers
7. Notify your nominees (I’m doing this through Twitter)
8. Ask your nominees any five questions – include at least one weird or funny question (REALLY IMPORTANT) and obviously answer the questions you were asked!
9. Share a link to your best post(s) so far!

3 random things about the little BlackAnt – Beth

1. At 22 or so I went parachuting, believing that this might cure me of my fear of heights. It didn’t. But it taught me an amazing life lesson: even when you are afraid, with proper preparation, you can be ready to step up into a challenge and do it anyway. The fear does NOT disappear and it doesn’t need to disappear in order for you to act. Courage is learning to step through the fear and act anyway. I love the feeling of having the parachute open above me and floating down to earth – at that moment, there is NO FEAR. It’s flying!
2. I’m an INTJ and a single mum – you cannot imagine (or maybe you can) the challenges of being an introvert with an extroverted kid that wants to socialise! Thankfully, I put my “architect” skills of INTJ to good use, deciding how to structure and organise things so that she gets her social time and I get peace and quiet.
3. I did one year of med school before switching over to law school and becoming a corporate lawyer. I continue to be fascinated by science and psychology, most importantly by health, wellness and well-being!

My nominees

1. Carolyn | TheStarvingArtistBlog
2. Teresa Maria | Outlandish Blog
3. Mai Sutton | Petite Happenings
4. Cassie | A life on a dime
5. Britnee | All of Britnee’s
6. Nacia | The Silent Torch
7. Tiffany | Ethereal Empathy
8. Amy Eliza | Bab About Town
9. Amber | All of Amber
10. Vee | Millennial Life Crisis
11. Arabella | Lost in the Story
12. SimplySarahJayneLoves – and Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sarahjayneslove
13. katelyn | embark to explore

My nominee questions

1. How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to start?
2. If you’ve lived in more than one country, so far what has been your favourite town or city? If you’ve only lived in one country: the furthest you’ve explored so far?
3. Which is better: the book or the movie? Which one(s) are you comparing?
4. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?
5. You are out in the wilderness: would you prefer to be chased by a bear, wolves, a madman or Christine (the classic Stephen King car)? Make it interesting!

My Answers:

Because, well, yes, I did receive five questions for ME to answer.

1. What inspired you to start your blog?
2. If you had to choose between being a cat, dog or bird which would you choose and why?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. Where is your favorite place to be?
5. What is a fear that you have?

What inspired me to start my blog

If you have a close look, my blog started way back in 2006 when it was truly just an online log of what I was up to. This is long before anyone was talking about blogging as a “thing”, and I used it exclusively as a means to keep in touch with family & friends and just let them know what I was up to.

A cat, a dog or a bird?

Definitely a bird – I want to fly, to soar like an eagle! While I envy the lives of my cats & dogs, who are pampered, lazy and well treated, I love the freedom of the skies.

Favourite book

This is SO hard. You want me to pick just one? Wow! I don’t know!

• Lord of the Rings Trilogy?
• Lymond Chronicles (reading the set as if it were just one book?)
• Atlas Shrugged
• Terry Goodkind’s “Wizard’s First Rule” – some of the books in the series lost the plot, but I loved the series.
• Les Miserables
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• Harry Potter

I would read any and all of the above over again many times and never get tired of them!

Favourite place to be

Curled up with my daughter and dogs + cat, with all of them asleep and me with a book!

My fear

Heights – I don’t do well with glass floors in the Auckland Sky Tower or standing anywhere outside on the Eiffel Tower. I’ve done it, but can’t say I was ecstatic at the time!

Posts I am proud of on this blog:

The following is a short list of some of my best blogs posts, although I know that there are just as many that I missed!

• These old blue jeans
• One this day, 4 years ago, I found courage
• Successful failure: how to forgive and grow
• Tackling imposter syndrome again
• Burnout: signs, symptoms & struggles
• Procrastination: Defense Mechanism or Sabotage
• Shadows of the Past

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will support the various bloggers I’ve highlighted and help them get their messages out in the world!