Staying Fashionable and Kicking off the Cold for Less

Winter is very much upon us in South Africa. Hope you got the flu vaccine early enough? The erratic weather, especially the #DurbanWeather is taking its toll on many, through the flu and its associated cousins such as cough, sorethroat, tiredness, lightheadedness, basically being - #sick

Staying fashionable can be the last thing on your mind if and when you are dealing with the flu and its family. You sure need some #WinterWarmers

Five thriving tips for staying healthy this season:

1. Your hand sanitiser should be your best friend now, use it as often as possible - follow your gut feelings.

2. Hot water bottles work like magic, especially for some of us who use heaters sparingly.

3. Head warmers are super cool, they keep the cold away, keep your hair neat and prevent your 'hair lotion/cream' from staining bed sheets and pillowcases!

4. I cannot overemphasise the value of warm socks and gowns - the latter being a proudly South African traditional winter outfit at home, since there are hardly in-built heaters in most homes.

5. Do you really have to use your hands to open and close communal doors, especially toilet doors and taps? Put your elbows and knuckles to good use and tissue-laden hands, making sure those hands are properly washed and dried as often as possible.

Now that you are armed with tips on staying healthy, it is time to pull out your old winter accessories and be crafty about combining them with your newly acquired 'stuff' - you know what. You need not change your entire wardrobe to stay warm and fashionable. 

Be sure to invest in a few formal coats, scarfs and hats for the office-look and not your typical 'winter jerseys' which should be kept for informal evening/weekend gatherings.

Yours in sound health and mind - 3John2.

Abosede

Coping Strategies for the 21st Century Mum

There is no better time for mums to resharpen their mothering skills than in the Mothering Month! 

Happy Mother's Month to all the gorgeous and fabulous mums and hope you were spoilt rotten on Sunday?

It appears the 21st century mum is one whom the school gives detailed explanation of the curriculum and expectations and then expected to shoot for the moon. You are expected to practically teach and guide your child based on homework and other deliverables from school. You then wait until the end of the term/year, as the case may be, to get 'your' report; evaluation of how hard you have worked! 

If you are a new mother, your guess is as good as mine - you will need a lot of preparation. So gear yourself up. If you are like me who didn't  like drawing at school, you might as well start falling in love with artwork now. Those skills will especially be handy in Grade R.

A lot more is expected from parents these days, it will take a lot of intentionality to avoid burnout. Be sure to take those much needed power naps (10-15 minutes) in between assisting your child with homework and making supper, if you are a light sleeper. This might be a good time to give your little one a break, you don't want to bombard them with too much work either, else they won't look forward to doing their homework. Most importantly, your dedication to 'me-times' and hangouts will keep stress levels down and help maintain a peaceful atmosphere at home. 

Visit Mum's Mail and Parents24.com for useful mothering tips in and around South Africa. 

Also see Parenting Toolkit for parenting advice across the globe. 

Lest I forget, you will need early preparation for sports, explore Child Development and Parenting Skills.

This piece of advice here - from a 21st century Principal, will equally be helpful.

Visit the learning community, it is definitely worth checking out too.

Keep head above water! #KeepGoing #StayStrong

Above all, you can never go wrong with #Prayers in the #WarRoom

The Cost of Social Change

Social scientists are often caught in a web of intentionally influencing or changing perspectives to address underlying social problems. Ad hoc change in belief systems does not necessarily translate to a change in a problem. 

Efforts targeted at intentionally altering belief systems can be cosmetic and tend to produce momentary results which may look good on reports but too short-lived to make significant impacts which contribute to sustainable development. The will to change therefore rests in the hands of change agents or organisational members who possess power and agency to surrender their will to the mechanisms of social change. I foresee a very near future where social scientists devote substantial efforts on unstructured social learning for social change.   

Reflexivity is one of such mechanisms which will not only promote well-being and livelihoods but also lay a solid foundation for incorporating the sustainability agenda into core organisational practices and ethos. Reflexivity demands that agents be intuitive and critical of own way of thinking and ways through which thinking evolves into practices. What we consistently do is a reflection of our thoughts. How much power do we accord our thoughts to transcend into the very finite details of what we do? There is need to consistently resist thoughts which perpetuate despair and jeopardise peace and safety.  

Another mechanism is the willpower to relinquish self-interest for the social good. The human mind is naturally selfish. Intentionality is one the mantras of change agents. Show me a man who has the power to deny himself of 'pleasures' for the social good and I will show you a Protagonist. What is your threshold of sacrificial living? How much of what you do saves you time and money but negatively impacts your community and society? There is need for a system which puts practices in checks and balances. This brings me to my last and most important point: Lifelong-learning.

Every master thinks like a beginner. A change agent is one whose purpose is centred on lifelong-learning. The learning cycle can be very eventful but liberating. We often learn in tiny bits and pieces which later make a whole. Lifelong-learners often learn so little at a time and are tremendously amazed how wrong they have been for so many years. The learning process gets more intense with consistent drive for knowledge, which if combined with reflexivity, will be a key cornerstone for promoting social change and transformative learning.

This is a call to action, a call to amplify:
#Sustainabilityagenda 
#Sustainabilityeducation 
#corporatesocialresponsibility 
#CSR
#Socialchange
#Sustainableliving
#Sustainabledevelopmentgoals

Abosede Ijabadeniyi (PhD)

Researcher: Consumer Insights and Value Proposition

Fire and Gasoline; Performance and Passion

It's been such a while since I came here. I have been on an adventurous and somewhat rocky path of my career, one which I never envisaged in decades to come. Napoleon Hill once said - "Do not wait, the time will never be just right" Are you always drawn back and not bold enough to take giant steps in fear of failure? Well, I hope you are ready for this: Failure is one of the signs you are making progress! 

Failure is one of the indicators of progress. Every master thinks like a beginner, it is only those who thirst and hunger for growth that fail and rise up stronger and better - and determine never to act in the same ways which resulted in past failures. While this analogy can be paradoxical, you can be very sure that your progress is hidden in your struggles and pain. 

No amount of money or temporary gratification should be worth giving up on your dreams. How much did they pay you to give up on your dreams? Are you camping where you were meant to pass through? Let your inner soul come alive. Do what makes you tick and keeps you up late at night, and not the mundane tasks - a.k.a. on the go 'sleeping medication' which spontaneously dissolves into your system and kills your spark and umph (and I say the last word tightly pinching my thumb and index finger, toward the sky).

Let gasoline set alight the fire in your soul. Performance is fire, passion is gasoline. Performance is what you do to pay your bills, passion is what gives you joy and fulfilment for the rest of your life. Passion is what you can do without getting paid for and still continue to pursue it billion times over. Oh what a great outcome you would get if what you do to pay your bills is what you are passionate about. I hope gasoline meet your fire, or as the case may be: fire meet your gasoline?

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive" Howard Thurman

Pause and Play

I recently got to know about a hotel called Pause and Play, located in a small and quiet city called Chiang Mai in Thailand. The positioning strategy of this hotel is clear, the name says it all! Names can convey strength and purpose. In the same manner, we can establish that a woman is derived from a man, taking a cue from the biblical connotation of the prefix "wo" in wo-man.  Since seeds regenerate, women have unique multitasking capabilities which often take a toll on them.

The number of women with multiple roles and responsibilities, such as mother, wife and career/business woman is on the rise. It can be tough to balance the demands of life; a job, children, family, friends and still carve out a “me time” to recharge and re-energise.  Putting others first places an enormous amount of pressure on women.

Join Total Woman, South Africa in celebrating women's month as we run a 2-day webinar on:

Day 1: Well-being - financial, physical and emotional

Day 2: Balancing multiple roles - being a mother, wife and career/business woman
 

Date: 18 & 19 August 2018

Time: 7pm – 8pm South Africa time (6pm – 7pm UK time)

Webinar Platform - Zoom connection link:

https://zoom.us/j/983413764

Abosede Ijabadeniyi

An Independent Content Marketer and Freelance Researcher

Reshuffling to Slay

 

The ability to reshuffle redundant goals and ambitions is critical in this era of #Post-Truth, #Alternativefacts, #Unprecedentedattacks and Sporadic #CabinetReshuffle.

The capabilities and resources needed to achieve set goals are not static. It is common to hear people talk about pursuing their passion. By the way, passion is not static. Don’t be too rigid to miss the mark. Over and above your initial passion, there will always be other areas you can thrive and create innovative ways of #slaying.

Circumstances around you, your response to them and the intensity of your willpower interfere with the lifespan of your passion. Keep an open mind, resharpen your axe, be sensitive to your potential passion and other niche gaps, effectively manage and optimise your passion/niche gap portfolio and be adept to change in order to slay in this new era.

The consistency of slaying in this new era is dependent on your ability to reinvent new ideas. Ideas are like a stream of water. Put yourself in environments which harness the generation of new ideas. Surround yourself with people of like minds and beware of who you share your ideas with. Above all, do all things legitimately.

 

Abosede Ijabadeniyi

An Independent Content Marketer

 

 

 



 

Quit Exaggerating your Past

The past is what it is, let the past stay where it belongs. No amount of whining, moaning or pity parties can change the past from what it is. 

 

You know you are exaggerating your past when you find yourself reverting to the "past mode". The past mode features phrases such as "Had I known", Only if I had gotten there on time", "Maybe I was not careful enough", "I am not that smart anyway".

 

It becomes more serious if you throw momentary pity parties to justify these moments. The pity parties then become more frequent and the guest lists become longer.

 

If you find that you have - regrets, deep sorrow of the heart, emotional eating, lack of energy, negative perspectives toward the future... etc. on your guest list, then you are really exaggerating your past and welcoming more special guests in upcoming parties.

 

These special guests totally crowd your thoughts so much so that you weep spontaneously, lose touch with your sense of being and you are told to seek professional help.

 

You do not have influence over your past, but you sure have influence over your response to it. 

 

Quit exaggerating your past!