ATTITUDE

“Why haven’t you blogged recently?”, a colleague asked me a few days ago,  “I used to read each and every blog you wrote.”

I had to think about that one for a moment.  My answer to him was straight and simple:  “I have not been in a very positive state of mind over the last few months and I don’t like writing about negative things.”

That evening Martin, my son, told me a bit about something his lecturer told the class that same morning.  Most of you possibly know the following but sharing is caring, and one can’t care too much:

If A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Is equal to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Then H+A+R+D+W+O+R+K = 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

K+N+O+W+L+E+D+G+E = 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

L+O+V+E=12+15+22+5=54%

L+U+C+K = 12+21+3+11 = 47%

(None of them makes 100%)

Then what makes 100%
Is it Money? ..... No!!!!!
Leadership? ...... NO!!!!

Every problem has a solution, only if we perhaps change our "ATTITUDE". It is OUR ATTITUDE towards Life and Work that makes OUR Life 100% Successful..

A+T+T+I+T+U+D+E = 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

I won’t say I had a completely negative attitude or lack of attitude, I was just not running at 100%.

So, this is what I plan on doing:

1. Get myself out of this not-so-positive state of mind.
2. Start blogging again, yes, about anything I can think of and that matters to me.  It may not be every day, but it will be more regular that two blogs per year.
3. Find the root of the negativity and kill the ones causing it.  And if I think there is a possibility I may get into trouble for killing the baddies, maybe I will just get rid of them in a nice way.

Watch this space!

Greetings,

Besembek

Why I don’t like this time of year

My whole life is thrown off balance every year, every November and December.  There simply are too many social activities for my liking.

It is one party or function after the other, people and more people and too many people.  If I had it may way, I would much rather stay in bed on those days with a migraine.  Problem is, I can’t fake illness.  The sad part is, and I’m sure a lot of other people may feel the same; I’m sort of forced to go.

I was told in a meeting the other day that employees declining invites to Christmas parties are the negative ones in a corporation.  I was also told, not in that meeting, and not in these exact words, that I give people reason to pick on me because I aired my view on this issue.

Now, just to clear it all:  I’m not negative towards any corporation.  I’m not negative towards a good plate of food (just look at me!), I’m not negative towards people I work with.  I like my job.  I like getting up in the morning and getting to work.  I like speaking with the people at work.  But what I like most, is going home after work.

I like people, but I prefer to be alone.  End of story.  That is who I am.

When there are too many of you, you exhaust me and you make me nervous and you make me want to go home.  That is why I prefer being with my family.  Irma, sometimes Martin (he can handle company better than I do and spend a fair amount of time with friends), and Stiaan when he is home.  They are enough for me, most of the time.

We stay at home, we go out, we go camping, we go wherever we want to without having to interact anymore than needed to pay for things, check in and out at places, and to (at most) greet our neighbours at a campsite.  When I feel the need for more social interaction than what I get at home or work, I reach out to close friends and family, have some time with them, and then I’m good to go for another month or two or twelve.

So, please invite me to your parties.  I will never say no to free food.  Sometimes the networking opportunities are not so dull either.  Sometimes you invite some of my close friends or family and I can happily ignore the rest of the crowd.  But please know: I can’t wait to leave, and I can’t wait to get to January.  I desperately need to get back home! I desperately need to restore balance, my balance, according to my scale, the scale that is calibrated perfectly for me.

Please note that no extroverts were killed during the writing of this blog.

The Daughter of Chuck

The Daughter of Chuck

Dear Biker-Chick,

Sometimes a random person enters someone’s life and they click.  And they become friends  Like we did.

We clicked.  We clicked on things like bikes (obviously), your collection of motivating and inspiring books on your desk, our shared love for reading, and so many other things that made us discuss issues of the day and talk as if we knew each other for years.

The Supermodel!

We clicked, very well I may add, when you helped me to find some of those expensive magazines with the nice pictures so I could show Irma and Martin what real models should look like.  No, not supermodels like you, plastic models like the ones I like to build. Where will I get these magazines from now?

 

The Ballerina

One of the topics we did not talk about much, but we also clicked on, are our artistic sides.  You living your creative passion in your work, spending spare time on the ballet floor (it freaked me out every time I saw you walking around the office on your toes, ballerina-style!), you being the model in front of the camera.  Me with my feeble attempts at writing a blog, photography and building model aircraft.

And then, one day, it just so happened that we were “clicked” together.

The model and the modeller (from left to right, that is!):

So, as we part at the workplace today, my message to you: Keep on clicking with other people.  Keep on being the free spirit you are.  Take the road less traveled.  Go to places you have never been. Enjoy the ride. Keep on making beautiful things even if nobody cares.  Keep on smiling.  Never stop helping others.  Feel the wind in your hair, and enjoy the mud between your toes.  Seize the day, with a cup of coffee in the one hand, and a pancake in the other. Kiss your man, your dog or your tree.  Or all three.  Keep on picking up puppies in the street and knock on a stranger’s door like you did the other day, and embrace the strange strangers inside that home!  (That, Melissa Norris, was one of the most awesome, heart-warming stories anybody has ever told me!)  Be someone’s sunshine, be silly and be loved.  Take care of yourself, because nobody else will do it like you can.  Get things done, be somebody and make a difference.  Keep on doing all these things because that is WHO YOU ARE! And because you CAN!

And most important: Thank you for being my friend!

Peace, Ultra Mel!

PS.  Thanks for allowing me to use these photos.  I don't know who the photographers are (except the bottom one which Peter took), so, credit to them.