No Speak Week, Initial Thoughts

Life
Written By Dana Podgurski

First and foremost - thank you to every person who has been thoughtful enough to reach out to me, send me suggestions, and toss thoughts/prayers in my direction. I was warmly blown away by how many people reached out - it was a wonderful reminder that I have such incredible people in my life. Yesterday morning I had my vocal chord surgery, and my doc said it was a great success! My throat is a little sore, and it hurts when I clear my throat/cough, but other than that I feel like a million bucks. 

But I thought it might be interesting to share what it's like to not be allowed to talk! I downloaded a text-to-speech app call "Speak," am texting a TON, and also bought and have been using a whiteboard. It's nice to have the whiteboard simply so that I don't have a glowing screen in my face all day long. I haven't used the app much yet, but I selected a woman with a British accent in my futile hopes of having Adele's voice when this is done with because she had the same procedure done. ;)

Other thoughts:

  • It's fun to actually write (versus type!). I'm having a good time sending pics of messages/doodles I scribble on my whiteboard. I realize I could text them too, but it's fun to change it up and do something different.

  • I feel like I'm having to relearn how to write.

  • This is a good one - only people who know me extremely well would know this, but I happen whistle a ton. I don't even realize I'm doing it half the time. My dad and brother do, too. But given the restraints of no-speak-week, I instinctively started to respond/acknowledge with a whistle. Especially "thank you."

  • I clap whenever I'm trying to express being happy or excited. I didn't think to do this, I just sort of did it. Funny how one can naturally and quickly adapt as their environment or circumstances change.

  • The spidey sense effect is real. Everything is 1000x louder, I swear to God. I hear everything.

I think I'll venture out into the public either today or tomorrow - we'll see how that goes! :)

Dana Podgurski

Hi everyone! I'm Dana Podgurski!

I'm a foot in the mouth, tongue in cheek, head in the clouds, and heart on the sleeve kind of gal. I live for new experiences, but am a total sucker for nostalgia at the same time. I'm tough as nails, but am a complete softie for all things kids and animal-related. I fly by the seat of my pants, and live for adventure. But I firmly believe that adventure is a mindset that one's self determines.

For work, I am a marketer through and through. Bringing brands to life, and content marketing are passions of mine. Many would consider what I do as nerdy, but I seriously dig it. I have been doing marketing contract work for years, and appreciate the variety it brings, and the relationships I've developed with my clients. If you're interested in a partnership, click here.

For fun, I love to create - writing/blogging, photography, and painting are my main three mediums of doing so. Feeling good and healthy is also high on my list, as it really lends itself to making everything more enjoyable. So I maintain a very active lifestyle, eat pretty healthy, and am outdoors as much as I can be. And if my blog didn't make it abundantly clear, I absolutely LOVE to travel (near and far) and go on adventures. I spend any extra money I have on tickets and feel so fortunate to have been to several amazing destinations both domestically and internationally. There's nothing more fulfilling than coming home from a trip and adding a been-there-pin to my map.

Cheers!

Dana

http://www.mightygoodpen.com
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