Tag: bloganuary

What people assume about me is not my business

People are ALWAYS going to make incorrect assumptions about me. This is a given. The beauty of getting older is that you begin to realise that other people thoughts and assumptions about you are not your business. Here’s why it actually doesn’t matter:

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”

Lao Tzu

They could be judging an older version of me

I don’t know about you but I keep changing and evolving. The person I was as a teen is not the same as the person I was in my 20’s. I became a mum in my 30’s and that definitely changed me. My 40’s have been a revelation! Losing my mum 3 years ago also triggered a huge change in the person I am today. So, unless you have spent time with me over the past few months or maybe a year, whatever assumption you have of me is probably false. I am definitely not the same person I used to be when you knew me. Heck, if you last read one of my posts more that a year ago, you need to catch up. I’ve read more books and met knew people so I have ideas and philosophies. I am definitely not the person I was back then

They are judging my book by it’s cover

Yip. I am often told that I look like a teacher. I always ask myself how do teachers look. They are each individuals who look very different to each other but somehow I look like a teacher, especially when I have my glasses on. I must admit, that has been consistant throughout my adult life. Weird. Apparently I can also look intimidating. To tell the truth, I have lived most of my life scared of my own shadow. So if you are one of the people that think that about me, I am probably more intimidated by you than you realise.

They judge the way I live my life

I cannot tell you the number of times people have assumed that I am so strong because I am the single mum of a newly minted teen with a career and I am a part-time student and I blog and I read…a lot! How do I do it they ask? The same way you do. I get up every morning and put one foot in front of the other and eat my elephant one bite at a time. I have no other choice. It doesn’t make me strong. I cry and fall apart like everyone else. The only difference is that I don’t have someone to do the heavy lifting while I am falling apart so I have to keep those episodes short and sweet so that my son doesn’t even know it happened. I am super afraid of what’s around the corner like most yet because I get up and do what I do, it is assumed I am strong. My most recent request to God is that it is high time He sends me a life partner of note! Being independant has it’s perks but so does having someone to lean on and someone to share life with. So thank you in advance God, I know you are listening.

They judge the way I don’t live my life

Can a girl ever win? lol.

At the end of the day, people will always make assumptions about us. It’s human nature. Our job is to ignore other people’s assumptions and focus on living our lives otherwise, as Lao Tzu says, we risk becoming their prisoners. Why ever would we want to give people so much power over us?

Why I like my writing

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

I started my blog over 3 years ago. I had always dreamt of being a writer but was afraid that I sucked at it. I never got passed the first few pages of capturing the stories I had flowing through my mind. I have also always kept a journal since I was a teen. My ex-boyfriend encouraged me to give it a go anyway. So here I am.

People say there are two kinds of learning: experience, which is gained from your own mistakes, and wisdom, which is learned from the mistakes of others.

John C. Maxwell

I love reading and I love learning. There is a lesson in every story ever told. It actually doesn’t matter whether you read fiction or non-fiction. There is something to learn in every book you read. I have learnt about identity theft online from a Jeffery Deaver novel which made me a little more cautious with my personal details online. Dan Brown got me thinking about what I really knew about religion. These are just 2 examples of how fictional works have impacted my life. Non-fiction has had an even bigger pact over the last few years as well. I learned from other’s experiences whether there were real or imagined.

I also make my own mistakes every single day. I am 100% perfectly imperfect just like eveyone else. I also know that every mistake I make and how I react and deal with it, is not only a lesson for me to learn from but it has the potential to help someone else who might be on the verge of making the same mistake or has made it and is not sure how to deal with it. My writing is in no way advice, it’s just a shared experience. At minimum, I hope people read my posts and can breathe a sigh of relief that they are not “the only one” to have made that mistake. For this reason, I write from my heart more than from my head. If I want to make some money from this I should probably add more head to my writing I suspect😜

I know that my posts do achieve my goal of touching at least one person’s life or getting at least one person to stop and think. Readers often message me to tell me how a post impacted them. I am always humbled that they took the time to let me know and I am very grateful for the feedback. It is also why I keep writing and why I like my writing. Making a positive difference in someone’s life no matter how small, gives me energy. My writing fulfils me.

I do dream of touching millions of lives the world over. Perhaps I will do that one life at time over the years through an international platform like WordPress or perhaps I will write a best selling book/a series of books. I will leave that outcome in God’s hands and focus on writing. Until then, I hope we will continue to meet on WordPress and that I will in some way add value to your life at each encounter. Thank you for supporting my blog with your time😊🙏🫂

What makes me laugh…lots!

Oh where should I start! I love to laugh! I have quite a loud distinctive laugh so everyone knows I am around when they hear it. So what brings out this loud distinctive laugh you ask?

  1. Animal antics

My son and I can spend hours on Facebook and IG watching animal videos. We love the cat videos the most as cat’s are real characters. As luck would have it, the neighbourhood stray brought her kittens to our door a few months ago so we have had the pleasure of witnessing all the antics every day. Here is just 1 of the clips that had me in stitches.

Curious George investigates Alex’s sock…
  1. Dry English Humour

I loooove English humour. Programmes like “Allo Allo” and “Absolutely Fabulous” have had me rolling with laughter. My current favourite British programme is the Graham Norton Show. His guests are a real hoot! Which just reminds me that I should probably sign up for Britbox so that the laughter can roll on!

  1. South African Stand-up comedians

Trevor Noah obviously tops the list here. I have been a fan of his for years. Just before he was appointed as the host of The Daily Show, I saw him perform live. I literally cried with laughter. At one point, my friend thought I was having an asthma attack (and I don’t have asthma) because I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard. There were about 5 commedians in the line-up and each one was funny in his own right. I also love Marc Lottering, Riaad Moosa, Stuart Taylor and Carvin Goldstone to name but a few. There are so many more. Pre-covid, attending comedy nights was one of my favourite things to do.

As I said at the start of the post, lots makes me laugh. I hope you enjoy the clip and links. According to Lord Byron we should always laugh when we can. Laughter is cheap medicine. So laugh hard and laugh often!