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Upcycling is the process of converting old or discarded materials into something useful and often beautiful' Hipcycle.com

Can we be up-cycled? Something I have been pondering over the last couple of months. I recently up-cycled an old cabinet that somebody was selling on ebay. I cherished the thought of bringing new life to the cabinet and dreamed of how lovely it would look in my new crafting corner I have created.

The sanding of the top of the unit took a lot of effort, even with an electric sander! Initially I was nervous to see what lay beneath. Was the surface all smoke and mirrors? Was what lay beneath going to look and feel like the beautiful solid piece of wood I had envisaged, or was it going to be a disappointment? did it have the potential to add value in it's new surroundings?

I have recently had to personally reflect on what I was offering in my role. I have been in the same organisation for 18 years and started as a part-time christmas sales assistant on the shop floor. I have moved up over the years through different parts of the organisation. In 2006 I passed my CIPD certificate in training, and have been lucky enough to work with a variety of people and projects. I am passionate and energised by trying to make a difference for the people within the organisation and love my role in learning and development.

However, earlier this year an opportunity left my grasp as I realised I had not whole-heartedly embraced the external community. It was certainly not intentional as I love new and exciting ways to see things differently. It seems on personal reflection, that in my bid as a part-time mum to compact everything in to the day, the new and exciting things were becoming limited to what my imagination could think up. I had not been feeding my imagination anything external unless I had stumbled upon it, or if I 'needed' to research a particular topic for the task at hand. This felt more like scoffing on knowledge rather than taking more slower and more manageable bite size chunks.

This led to me thinking, how could I be exposed to a more healthy drip feed of external insights, opinions and ideas? More importantly where would I feel comfortable to be exposed?

I ask this, as my thoughts were additional fuelled by my notion that social media couldn't be anything more than a soap box for the ego-centric... surely?

Actually what I was becoming more sure about was that this myopia statement and my values, my passions didn't marry up.

This was something that came to the fore-front of my thinking over a couple of months. In particular, I remember one occasion that woke me.

I was invited to an internal "comms revolution' forum where we were asked to give our views on how we communicate to each other. Someone at the table, whom I had only just met, through the course of our conversation had concluded that I was probably on most of the social media platforms. When I answered I was not really, apart from Facebook, they were shocked.

It seemed my passion and energy to embrace new platforms was there, however in reality I wasn't using them and it was becoming more evident... that I was actually afraid to use them.

What was I afraid of?

As I started to sand back my surface I realised that I felt exposed. Vulnerable, naked and I wasn't sure if I would fit in to that new type of surroundings.

In some ways I felt old, as in that very session spoken about above, I referred to the youth coming in today possibly seeing us as fuddy duddies in the world of technology!

For example, whereas we are just trying to embrace the foundations of social media though iconic applications such as Facebook and Twitter, the youth are finding new platforms. In addition, the youth coming in do not generally have email addresses, as a result of using social media to conduct all necessary communication. We need to challenge ourselves and our current thinking where communication is concerned, so we can connect better with them.

Personally sanding back my surface I like to think the wood was sound. I do want to embrace new concepts, ideas and I am still passionate about making difference.

I don't want to hide the fact that I am 36 and trying something new, I always will be as every day is a school day to me.

I don't need or want to change completely to fit in. I don't want to be something I am not. The latest shade of pink isn't going to be me.

All I need is a new coat that shows I can and have embraced the new, absorbing it and making it a part of me and my make up.

Hopefully showing I have possibly converted what was there in to something that can be used today. Meaning I potentially have something else to offer as a result.

The new coat requires me being open to absorbing the new material. So I feel I am currently in primer stage. I have chosen to have a go at different social media platforms and therefore, to the frequent user, I could be seen as not one who has been fully immersed.

I have started by not focusing on the negative of being exposed but more on the positive, and challenging my own thinking through questioning how could social media help me in my role?

Well thanks to one individual who introduced me to social media groups, I have now seen a whole new wealth of knowledge and insights that I previously did not have. I have to thank @PhilWillcox 

I am in the experimental phase, I have set up my twitter account @SarahHaywood9 and this is my first blog. I have even started to use +Scoop.it  and here is my first Scoopit topic L&D Building relationships with Leaders and I would love to get your feedback.

My cabinet is finished and it looks perfect with my new craft table I created. I love it.

Whereas my personal upcycling isn't quite the finished article yet but I am hopeful that after a couple more coats, possibly a sanding in between to give a smoother finish e.g. a refining of my new social media skills, allows me to add value to my surroundings. #personalupcycling