Life of An Online Supporter (Part 1)
My dearest readers,
If you have been wondering why I've been actively posting here for the past few weeks, this post is for you and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and paying attention to this petite space. A warm welcome to those who are new to this space and I hope you will find comfort in anything I have written here. I'll definitely do my best to create more meaningful content in this space and I'll need your help to show some love for it, yea?
Sending good vibes and I hope that you're doing well, wherever you are.
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Alright, a few weeks into settings things up on Instagram and posting all things related to Korean dramas here - I'm sure there are questions as to why I'm so active lately and why are most of them related to South Korea (thus far are Kdrama reviews and recommendations along a few more related to my favourite place that I miss terribly, Jeju Island). Now that I've been keeping quiet and testing a few things for some time now, it's time to share the news here and I hope that it could be a good reference to those who are interested in the future.
Bear with me until the end of this post as I share the background story and my experience as an online supporter (hence the title). You will definitely want to find out how it happened and reasons why you can anticipate more of such posts in this space. Story time! :)
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Back in February, there was a post shared by the Korean Embassy in Malaysia that goes about like this '2020 Online Supporter Recruitment' and in that image, it includes the brief roles of an Online Supporter. Generally, it would involve promoting and sharing announcements, social posts and activities hosted by the Embassy and also creating contents on the Korean culture and so forth. At the time, someone encouraged me to sign up and give it a try but I was already battling with my inner thoughts about what I could do and how much time I would be able to allocate aside from my 8 to 5 job. Before you know it, questions and doubts keep coming even before I complete the form (now, I laugh at myself for thinking things a little too far.)
In the midst of all the negativity, sometimes it is that one positive thought that stood out to help you make that decision. For me, this was all I needed to hear, and muster my courage to click the Submit button.
"You lose all the shots you don't take"
(this is definitely a quote from somewhere and I can't recall it at the moment).
At the time, I had zero expectations and was just trying my luck to see if I could make the cut with this blog. Yes, we had to include a link to a public account either YouTube, Instagram or Blogger for the embassy to check it out. Obviously after submitting the form, life goes on as usual and my sporadic postings about poems and short stories on the blog resumed. It didn't occur to me that I actually signed up for it until the day I received an email with the first few lines being;
"Greetings from Korean Embassy!
...
Congratulations, you are selected as 100 online supporters of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea!"
The email came up as an unexpected surprise because I totally forgotten all about it and for the first few milliseconds as my brain registers the fact, I have no idea what I signed up for. To say that I was feeling lost during the first two weeks is quite accurate because the orientation was postponed and we weren't informed of any restrictions on what and how we should write. It is literally freestyle (so to speak) and the only thing you need to submit to the embassy is the monthly report where it contains the links to your posts, number of views and likes. For the year 2020, it will go on until November 30 and the results for the best and outstanding supporters will be announced at the end of this year (prizes awaits too!)
Here's my take on the experience thus far - the first month was quite a rush for me because there aren't a lot of time to think and plan on what to write. All I knew was that I had to start somewhere almost immediately - thanks to all my friends who have been asking me for K-drama recommendations, I knew that it would a good place to start even when it would seem to deviate from my usual pattern of the blog. Come to think of it, the negative thoughts that were once in my head are now replaced with constant ideas and questions on how to challenge myself in creating meaningful content or posts for this.
Now a month plus into it, I'm starting to do a little better at managing my time between editing the content for the online supporters and those for myself which are the short stories, poems and maybe thought posts. Part of the reason that convinced me to sign up is to test myself and see how far I can continue showing up with my own work on top of those planned. At the same time, I want to take this time to sharpen my skills and to see if this is the 'passion' that I've been searching for - to see if it's worth pursuing even if it means to sacrifice sleep (exactly what I'm doing now).
All in all, I am immensely grateful for making the leap and having the chance to step up my game. I look forward to see what's in store for me be it a few months down the road or when this role as an online supporter comes to an end in November. What will become of this space then? Will it still be a space that I intended it to be or more? Only the future can tell.
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Just thought it'll be good to shed some light before I go on with more postings in the future. Closing this as Part 1 and the Part 2 will follow after I've attended the orientation, which is still TBD as it has been postponed due to the Covid-19.
Love, Sara
Love, Sara
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