Thank you all so much, yes it feels great.
I always think I'm going to be ridiculed or humiliated if I dare to open my mouth, so I usually spend a long time rehearsing what I'm going to say and then think through imagined scenarios of what people's responses will be. This leads to me chickening out because what i imagine usually ends terribly badly.
What was lovely about last night was I hadn't planned it at all. The guest speaker just raised so many issues that I could identify with that I found myself responding before I knew what was happening.
What got me was their reaction, they were all just so lovely and came up to chat to me after the meeting.
I've had a challenging day at work but that doesn't matter to me at the moment. I just feel so pleased to have found this site. Without you all I would never have embarked on this journey. A bumpy ride, but I'm hanging on tight. Thank you all xxxx