“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you only have one idea” (Alain)

 

Recently, in management practice, we have been learning all about strategy formulation and implementation and how important it is to have back-up plans when you are trying to implement something.

Anyway, I’m not going to ramble on about business and strategic plans as this will bore most of you but this just got me thinking how vital it is to have back-up plans in life. Life throws us curve balls and unexpected things jump out at us when we least expect it, so always knowing that you have a plan B, can be very beneficial to you.

I would just like to share with you something that happened to me and my family as an example of this sort of thing. My mom, sister and I went to Singapore and Thailand last year and we had our itinerary all planned out and ready to go. We never even thought of planning a back-up plan just in case anything happened. Anyway, long story cut short my mom’s bags got stolen with everything in it and we were stuck. Luckily we had travel insurance and they payed us out but the moral of the story is that if we didn’t think of important things like that we would have been in a lot of trouble and not knowing what to do on the other side of the world.

No matter what happens in life, no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, always have a plan B.

 

 

                          http://www.lifeaftercollege.org/blog/2011/11/06/november-miscellaneum/

To my amazing mother

Today is my beautiful moms birthday (I won’t mention her age as she will kill me) and I just want to write this blog to thank her for all she has done for me and being there for me when I have needed her most. My mom dedicates her life to my sister and I and I have no doubt in my mind that she would die for us. She has the most genuine heart and soul and I am very lucky to call her my mom and friend. She is not only my mom but a person that I have come to call my friend. I can tell her anything and she will not judge me but give me motherly advice that I use very wisely.

I wish you all the happiness in the world and for only good things to come your way. You deserve it!

I love you mom

http://adorn512.bigcartel.com/product/hand-stamped-necklace-mother-daughter-jewelry-personalized-jewelry-mommy-necklace

Beautiful Stanford

A few weeks ago my dad, my sister and myself went to a beautiful little town just past Hermanus called Stanford. It is one of the most stunning, quaint little places I’ve ever been to. It is nestled in between the mountains with a river flowing through the town. The houses are all cottages with stunning gardens and big oak trees.

It must have been about 0 degrees when we got there and immediately put in a fire. On the Saturday morning we went to a farmers market with all locally produced foods, flowers, homemade clothes and accessories. We then went to a cheese farm where they make the most divine cheeses and breads. After that we went to a wine farm and enjoyed the afternoon drinking a bit too much wine for our liking.

                              http://gothatwaycapetown.com/platanna-stanford-river-cruises/

It was the most perfect weekend to just get away and enjoy a relaxing weekend where we didn’t have to think about the daily pressures of life and just spend quality time together. I would highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to get away and just enjoy themselves.

Reality Television

I’m religious about my reality programmes especially ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, obsessed would be an understatement. Why though, are we so addicted to these programmes? Is it the lives they live, lives we wish we could have, the drama, does it make our lives seem normal or is it just a pure addiction that we cannot break?

For me, I think it because I have always wanted to be rich and famous – no I’m kidding. I think it is because it makes me feel like a normal human being. I’m sure most of those programmes are rehearsed but still, if you think about what goes on in those programmes and if you think about your life as an ‘ordinary’ citizen, they are two different worlds! Their lives might look perfect but im sure they are far from perfect.

I would really love to hear from you if you watch them and why you do?

                               http://www.theprofessionalsprogram.com/category/reality-tv/

What will matter to me in 10 years?

I look at my life today and I am very content. I have a roof over my head, parents that love me, food on the table every day and enough money to get me through each day.  My biggest priority in life right now is getting my degree in Public Relations, finding a good job that I am happy in, earning a decent salary and finding my own place where I can start the rest of my life. These priorities will change once I have achieved all of this and then I will have new priorities.

I have no clue where I will be in 10 years’ time. I might be overseas, I might be married with children, I might be in a completely different career path than Public Relations or I might still be single and happy (or sad) who knows? What I do know is that my values, morals and things that are important to me as an individual stay the same; well I hope they stay the same. Life has so many curve balls and we never know what it is going to throw at us. Today might be our last day of living, that’s how unexpected life is. We should all live life to the fullest and try reaching our dreams no matter how hard it is to get there. We should all be true to ourselves as individuals and whatever is most important to us, make that a priority in your life. So what will matter to me in 10 years’ time is the person I am and want to be and make sure that I stay true to myself because I am the most important person in my life and you are the most important person in your life- never forget that.

                        http://livingajoyfullifenow.com/life-coaching-tip-be-true-to-yourself

Is crying a sign of strength or weakness?

Crying, in my opinion is both a sign of strength and weakness. It is a strength because it shows that you are human and you have feelings and emotions and everyone now and then needs a good cry to let all of what you are feeling out. It makes you feel better (I know this because I cry all the time). It can be a weakness because every time something happens, you cannot just cry and expect people to feel sorry for you. Sometimes you have to just suck it up and face the music.

                    http://www.sjstowe.com/2012/07/strength-in-weakness-your-biggest-hurt.html

Men and women obviously have different viewpoints when it comes to crying. Men like to be all macho and be the strong ones and when they do cry, they think they are weak and it is very embarrassing for them and when women cry men want to run for the other direction. I personally think that when a man cries, it is beautiful because it shows that they are not robots but they actually have feelings and emotions. Women tend to have more feelings and they just like to let it out, sometimes we cannot control when we cry. For both genders, crying is a natural habit but we need to make sure that we control when we cry because it can put people off. You also need to make sure what environment you are in for example, being in the working world, obviously crying can be seen as a sign of weakness but at home it is more natural. So yes, it can be seen as both a strength and weakness just make sure that you don’t let it out ALL the time but when you do need a good cry, let it out- you will feel like a new person.

                                               http://www.google.co.za/imgres?q=crying+-              +strength+or+weakness&um=1&hl=en&biw=1619&bih=741&tb

The Heart of Love

Recently I was given a book called ‘The Heart of Love’ written by Dr. John.F. Demartini. Normally I hate reading these self-help books because I don’t see the point in them and I live by the saying – ‘If you can’t help yourself, how is anyone else going to help you’. So I decided to just start reading the first chapter and would see how it goes. Naturally, I don’t like reading but as soon as I started I could not put the book down.

This book deals with how to make meaningful relationships with people, such as your partner, parents and people who you want to get along with better. Being in the field of Public Relations, it is very important to be able to interact with people and to communicate and build relationships so this is the perfect book for me. My emotions run away with me and it has always been something I am consciously aware of and I have wanted to change that. This book has helped me so much with that and also showed me what values are important to me and how to treat other peoples values as important as my own. It has really changed my outlook on life and I would really recommend this book to anyone who would like to build meaningful relationships with people. It has exercises at the end of each chapter for you to work on to reflect on what you have just read. Come on, give it a read, I promise you, you won’t be sorry J

http://healing.about.com/od/books/ig/Book-of-the-Week/Week-Twenty-Seven.htm