How not to take a sick day
Meet my mojo
Wowness!
For so long, while I was drowning in self-pity over the awful events that had taken place in my life, I completely lost interest in just about every aspect of my life, including work.
Actually, for a while there, I COULDN’T work – my mind was elsewhere, dwelling on hurts and frustrations. But I knew I couldn’t do that forever without risking the one thing that allowed me to survive financially – my business. So I had to make a determined effort to start working again.
Hells, it was a real struggle for me to get out of bed each morning and find the energy to work a full day. Even when I managed, I wasn’t focused. I was on autopilot, just plodding along, following the path of least resistance because I simply didn’t have the mental or emotional or physical strength to explore new avenues or attempt to tackle some of the ideas I had previously cooked up to grow my company by creating new revenue streams.
Well, guess what?
That is changing. Rapidly!
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’ve talked a lot about the need for me to move forward, not only in work, but also in my personal life. But that I’ve really struggled to do this, especially on the work front. Despite my best intentions, I was still feeling stuck due to lack of time and staff and as a result, my ideas and motivation never seemed to evolve into anything concrete. So I felt like I wasn’t really getting anywhere … I had all these plans to start new things, explore new technologies, offer new services and build some sexy stuff, but they just never got off the ground. Man, it was frustrating!
Until now 🙂
As you know, I’ve recently started hiring more staff and investing in growing my team, both in numbers and skill. This was a big step for me – I had been understaffed for a long time and finding the right people to fit into our rather “homely” environment has never been an easy task and it was one that I delayed because I really didn’t feel up to the time and effort that it takes. Now that I have finally started doing this and hired some brilliant new talent, things are REALLY happening 😀
I am so damn amped for work again, I feel like I did 5 years ago!!! Do you have any idea of how awesome that is? I now wake up every morning, rearing to go – I can’t WAIT to dive into my day and work. It’s actually FUN again! Wow.
To FINALLY have the resources I need to help the business back onto it’s feet to take on the kind of work I’ve been wanting to do for ages, and to start on the projects that have been on the back burner for years now is just the most brilliant thing imaginable!!
I feel like SUCH a load has been taken off me … that heavy burden of inactive staleness has now been replaced with the energizing freedom of new activity. Fantastic 😀
And it’s spilling over into other areas of my life too!
I mean seriously, I NEVER thought *I’d* be the one to organize any social events. Good grief!! And jetting off to Durban to hook up with and stay with people I’ve never met, justBcoz? WTF?
Hahahaha!!!
So today is Friday … it’s the day I normally look back on the week and think: “Shit. I got nowhere again. My life is ridiculously dull. My business is still stuck in the Stone Age. I’m bloody miserable about it all. I feel like a failure.”
Not today.
Today I look back on the last week and think: “WOOHOO!!!! Chickadoodle, you’re doing it! You’re on the right track, you’re surrounded by awesome people (good move grrrl!), you’re moving forward in both in your business and in your personal life. At last!”
And I just HAVE to add here that a very large part of my new zest for life in general can be attributed to YOU. I’m not kidding. Interacting with you here, and on Twitter, Skype and Facebook, has had the most incredibly positive effect on me … I’m not going to get all mushy right now, but you I just wanted to let you know that without these social elements of the web, and your involvement in my life (even the most mundane aspects), I would have continued to feel stuck, bored, depressed and pointless.
So thank YOU for being there for me, for inspiring me – all of you! You guys rock and I have a special place in my heart for each an every one of you.
Happy Friday my friends!
XXX
Photos from Friday night at Asoka
For my scrapbook 😀
Brandon Golding’s Facebook Album
Christopher Mills’ photos on Imod
Matt Mullenweg’s Travels to South Africa Gallery
and this is meeee 🙂
(You can catch up on my Big Night Out here)
Social media musings on a Sunday
When I started this blog, I wanted to remain completely anonymous. Mainly for security reasons I think, motivated by the fact that I have children and that there are some crazy mofos out there! But also because I knew I’d be writing about some intensely personal things, using my blog as an outlet for some of the shit I’ve been keeping inside me for a long time. I wasn’t sure that I wanted anyone to know who I was while I poured my crappy-feeling-self out into the www. Writing has really helped me, I know I’ve evolved a lot emotionally in the few months I’ve been doing this – I certainly don’t feel as low as I did when I started my keyboard therapy. That’s pretty cool =)
So now that I’m feeling good and strong, I’ve started on my “coming out” mission (I’ve written about this before, you’ll have to dig if you want to find those posts) and a big part of the process of removing myself from both the professional and personal isolation that has been my life for the last couple of years, is connecting to people who live and work in the same worlds that I want to re-enter. I’ve had to force myself to overcome my shyness and find ways to meet people online. No, I am NOT talking about a dating service =) I mean people who work in the same or similar industries, people who share similar interests, people who enjoy music, people who love this country, people who blog, people who have fun, people I haven’t seen for years, people who can teach me things, people who make me laugh … just people!
That’s why I love services like Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and other blog sites. These online media services and communities have allowed me to re-connect with the world in a way that suits my introvert self. I have hooked up with loads of people who add value to my life everyday and I am starting to feel more comfortable in their “presence”. And you know what? Even though it took a fair amount of courage on my part to make initial contact with them through de-lurking and leaving comments on their blogs or clicking that “Follow” button on Twitter, almost everyone has been amazingly welcoming and friendly!
When I started my journey into social networking, I realized that I would not only have to take rejection risks in hooking up with people, but that I’d also be exposing more of myself than I am used to. I am still anonymous on this blog, but I know that Internet savvy folk can follow all sorts of trails and that’s ok – I don’t feel like I have to hide anymore. I have a few online identities they can track down, and they are welcome to do so – I am selective in who I choose to associate with online and careful not to just accept requests and invitations from anyone. Eventually, I will be meeting some of these people in real life and interacting with them through work or on a personal level (I’ve only met one so far, Eric from Springleap.com) but I think that’s amazing and wonderful – that social media in general, and social networking in particular, can have such a huge, positive impact on my life.
OK, sure, there are some folk who couldn’t give a toss, but on the whole, our online community in South Africa is pretty damn awesome!! If only they know how much they’ve done for me … I’m sure they’re oblivious to the fact that their reciprocal gestures have meant so much to this cowgrrrl.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I just wanted to put it out there that I am grateful to ALL these new people in my life, and to the online media and networking services that have helped me pop my bubble of seclusion. If you’re feeling isolated or disconnected from the world like I was, you may be able to inject some semblance of normality, community and fun into your life by joining the world of social networking. And if you’re already part of this wonderful blend of technology and community, you could be impacting on someone’s life more than you know …
Onwards and upwards!
Mwah xxx
This never fails to amuse me
Ok yeah, so this has been around the block a few times and if you’re a Facebooker then you’ve no doubt come across it before. Someone posted it on my FunWall again recently and, even though I’ve already seen it a few gazillion times, it still managed to make me chuckle =)
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| LEARN CHINESE IN 5 MINUTES (You MUST read them aloud) |
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| English | Chinese |
| That’s not right | Sum Ting Wong |
| Are you harbouring a fugitive? | Hu Ya Hai Ding |
| See me ASAP | Kum Hia Nao |
| Stupid man | Dum Fuk |
| Small horse | Tai Ni Poni |
| Did you go to the beach? | Wai You So Tan? |
| I bumped into a coffee table | Ai Bang Mai Fu Kin Ni |
| I think you need a face lift | Chin Tu Fat |
| It’s very dark in here | Wai So Dim |
| I thought you were on a diet | Wai Yu Mun Ching |
| This is a tow away zone | No Pah King |
| Our meeting is scheduled for next week | Wai You Kum Nao |
| Staying out of sight | Lei Ying Lo |
| He’s cleaning his automobile | Wa Shing Ka |
| Your body odour is offensive | Yu Stin Ki Pu |
| Great | Fa King Su Pah |
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WAAAAHAHAHA!!!! Love it =)