Tag: blog

A Quarterly Round-Up…Q1 2024

Hi Hi. It has been a long minute since I last wrote. I have to admit that I have been feeling out of sorts over the past few months and once again, my mum came to the rescue. This time the message came through my best friend.

Healing

I haven’t had a heart-to-heart talk with my friend in years. She lives in the UK and we both let distance and life get in the way of our connection. On Thursday evening we took the time to have a veeeery looooong call and she told about her last conversation with my mum. It was exactly what I needed to hear and I spent Friday morning just crying my heart out because it was what I need to do. I have been feelng a lot more grounded since then. My year will get better from here on out. Thank you my friend and thank you Mummy for coming through for me from the other side.

A New Hobby

I have discovered that I actually really do enjoy photography. I was inspired by an iPhone photography influencer on Instagram. I didn’t quite realise what great pics I could take with my phone. I just have a basic iPhone 13 but the camera is still great. I am still playing around with it and I am just starting to figure out the editing apps. I am so excited! Below is just a few of my attempts. Forgive me if the collage looks extra big. I can’t seem to make it smaller.

Portrait of Shoes
A sunset from my window
Floral portrait
Floral Potrait II
Just me
Shoes
Multifaceted Me

Sink or Swim

Work has been challenging as well but I have been enjoying each new challenge that has come my way. There are days when it feels like my brain has actually expanded. I feel both exhausted yet energised. It’s so weird. I am learning a lot but I am also putting my strengths to work and I get to work with some of the best marketing minds in our business right now. I feel very blessed.

Life’s Knocks

Of course, all has not been rosy. I have gained weight instead of losing it and have been beset with aches and pains which has irritated me. I am working on sorting these issues out but until then I guess I will just have to grin and bear it. I also reconnected with another friend that I believe is like a soul mate. We connect in a way that I have never connected with anyone else before but we have disconnected again for reasons that are what they are. I do believe that we will connect again. Now is not the time though. Until then I will carry on but I will miss him dearly.

Growing and Learning

Lastly, my son’s grandfather took him and his brothers to the UK to watch Liverpool play. I am so grateful he had the experience. It also opened his eyes to the fact that there is a big wide world out there with so much to see and to do. The travel bug has now bitten him so now I will have to start saving for a trip for him and I. It’s a great problem to have!

That’s it for now. Thank you for popping by. Please feel free for any photography tips. I am eager to learn more:)

Reflections #1 – Authority

Allowing others to dictate to me in areas where I am the expert weakens my authority.

Photo by Keegan Houser on Pexels.com

Last week, I had an experience where the outcome of a presentation was not received in the way I had expected it to be. I was pretty devastated, even though I am conscious of the fact that I never have total control of the outcome. In hindsight, there were a number of reasons for this. One of the key reasons is that I allowed my superiors to dictate the methodology to me even though they are not experts in my field. The minute I did this, I weakened my authority as an expert in my field.

The realisation was a wake-up call. I began to reflect on all the other situations where I was uncomfortable with the outcome. I realised that I had done it in those situations as well.

Next, I asked myself how I can take back my authority because I have allowed this to go on for too long. I have arrived at two courses of action for myself:

  1. Seniority does not equal authority in all aspects. I must ask more and better questions to understand the stakeholder’s needs and expected outcomes to confidently design the correct study to deliver the result and not let them dictate how to do it. They honestly don’t know.
  2. I need to work on my self-belief to truly take ownership of my area of expertise.
  3. I must remind myself that failure is not the end of the world. There is a lesson in it. Learn from it and move on. Do not fear it.

Reflecting on what happened has really helped me get to grips with how to prevent this type of thing in the future.

Have you found yourself in a similar predicament? What did you do to overcome it?

Thanks for popping by. Be blessed.

“Say a little and say it well.” – Irish proverb

Bloganuary writing prompt
In what ways do you communicate online?
View all responses

Hi There! Interesting question Bloganuary. I must admit that I communicate in very limited ways online. 

As Grounded African

I love quotes (in case you haven’t noticed). Ever since my mum passed away just over 5 years ago, I have been on this journey both spiritually and emotionally and quotes have helped me along the way. I try to create visually appealing backgrounds for the quotes that resonate with me and share them via this blog, IG and FB.

I communicate my thoughts and lessons via this blog and sometimes on Medium. On Medium as I do post under my name though. I share the links via FB and IG, but I find the audience on each platform is more drawn to the quotes and don’t appear to be keen to read blog posts.

Image: created on Canva

On a Personal level

On a personal level I stick to Facebook and IG. I use both to update friends and family on the milestones in my life as well as on the things that amuse me, make me sad or that I find interesting. 

I do have Twitter/X accounts but I use the platform more to keep up-to-date with the goings on in the world in real time. Otherwise, I find it a scary place to interact with people.

I chat on WhatsApp mainly. I find it highly frustrating (and shady) that Snapchat deletes your chat after 24hrs, so when I forget to note something, that’s it; it’s gone, so I have deleted my Snapchat account. I also chat with my fellow players on Scrabble. 

I also share short book reviews on Goodreads. You can view these by clicking on the Goodreads widget on my page. If you are on there, please add me as a friend so that I can discover new books through you, and perhaps you will do the same through me.

I am keen to expand my online presence but have yet to find the time to plan it out and learn how to make the best use of the different apps like TikTok and whatever else is good to know. I still have not figured out how to use Pinterest best.🤪 Does anyone have a blog page that could help me develop these skills? Do you have any hints and tips to share? Please leave a link or a suggestion in the comments. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for popping by. 💐. Be Blessed!