Me time – Anxiety management

May 20, 2022

A musical thread of joy

On Sunday evening a friend sends me a link to a song, saying that I should have a great week and that she loves me. It is Sunday night and my ears are already out, so I only listen to it sometime on Monday. A Monday where Lisa and I have to go to the doctor as we are all bogged down with some plague, they brought home from school and I want ALL the meds. We are sick and miserable and when we get home our electricity is also out. I am thinking that my day is pretty crap and retreat to my office where I try to answer email before the laptop dies. How quickly we feel sorry for ourselves, right??

Songs are magical things, they can bring up memories in all their different forms, they can hide things or bring things to the forefront. They can teach you something about yourself or someone else, they can dust off a dusty day or enhance something that is already shiny.

They can recall smells and memories of places or holidays or moments. They are endless in what they offer.

I can also more often than not convince myself that lyrics were meant entirely for me! Music does that!!

This song ended up being the perfect gift to me at the beginning of a not-so-great week and it now being Friday already, has been an earworm of comfort.

Another friend is having a hard time. She tested positive for COVID on her birthday and her life lately has definitely been an unconscionable agreement with the “powers that be”. Sometimes things have to be thrown up in the air before they settle. The chaos before the calm. So I offer her this little forwarded message with the link to the song. A little thread being pulled through… She replies with the English version of the song and tells me that this is her go-to song for almost any big emotion.

This little thread of joy just reminded me that we should never hesitate to share something that touched us, something that enhances your life can be the perfect gift to someone else as well. In the times we live in it is so easy and it hardly takes anything to just share a link. And even if it is not needed at that very moment, it may just be hanging around there for another time. It is honestly the least we can do.

March 25, 2022March 25, 2022

Coffee stains

I was introduced to the coffee stain concept by a friend who attended a management course. This is therefore not something I dreamt up but something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. If someone can find me resources on this theory, please let me know, as this wisdom was shared with me during a lunch meeting and not a scientific article.

This is not a coffee stain on your furniture or your desk or in your planner but a proverbial coffee stain in your life. That thing that you know you struggle with but is something that you have to do. The above-mentioned friend is an academic, a Professor, a researcher… and her coffee stain is email. She indicated that she just never wins her email. And yes, it was something that I never knew about her but also something that made me realise, that I too have these hurdles in my life.

Off the top of my head…

March 7, 2022March 7, 2022

Fragment of your imagination tangle challenge, 2022

It is March and I finally finished a doodle challenge that was set for January, which I had a head start on in December 2021… Yes, better late than never I guess. But, I persevered, and I am quite pleased with the outcome.

I completed my first FYIC challenge in 2021 (here are some of the sketches).

January 12, 2022January 11, 2022

New year socks

I have been neglecting this little corner of mine for various, boring reasons that I am not going to get into, because they are going to sound like excuses. Today will be my second day back at work this year. The home office has migrated back to the Publishing offices as I have struggled off late to keep work away from home.

So this post should be the motivational beginning of the year post that have been flooding my inbox and social media. Truth be told, I am not feeling it. I am not a huge fan of the festive season. It creates expectation and gatherings… so many gatherings… and at the end of the day, we tend to miss the whole point. We also overindulge and pick fights with the family (in no particular order).

A beautiful friend of mine chooses a word at the beginning of every year. I am not really into new year’s resolutions (as I tend to disappoint myself), but I like the idea of having a theme of sorts. Something that reminds you of who you are and where you are going. Something that can pull you back towards yourself and keep you focussed.

November 9, 2021November 9, 2021

Mario Brothers pixel blankets

Today is going to be a “how-to” post of sorts, but also a bit of bragging. A project that I started with in July, is finally finished (a little more than five months later): two pixel blankets that I crocheted for two brand new brothers that came into this world in September. Each of these blankets consists of 324 granny squares.