Multi-passionate problems + a journey to less but better

Multi-passionate problems

Last year, my mentor gave me a real good dose of tough love. You know, the kind that you KNOW you need to hear but, you’re a crying mess nonetheless!

What brought this about?

As a person with so many interests, it’s hard for me to focus on just a few. Professionally, I do several things and even personally, I struggle with having a hobby because, there are at least 10 things I want to regularly be doing!

It’s just impossible to sustain so much at a high and meaningful level. Add to the challenge of also sustaining yourself – financially, physically, mentally etc.

Mastery can only come with focus. And focus has been my mission. Slowly but surely, I’ve been culling what I give my time to. But it’s hard! Emotions get in the way, distracting shiny objects get in the way and fear definitely gets in the way.

You might be over there wondering: “what does this have to do with soulful branding?”.

And may I add one more thing for you to question? The role of self-care in all of this. (It is after-all, self-love and self-care month, in our Afri-love is 10 celebrations!)

It took me a long time to write this episode because, even though I intuitively knew all these things are connected, I couldn’t quite articulate just how. Today, I will try.

Continue reading “Multi-passionate problems + a journey to less but better”

On self-love + self-care: resources + goodies

Our year of celebration continues and this month, our theme is self-love.

Afri-love was founded on the principle of self-love. The idea being that when we love ourselves – as we are – we can then create positive transformation, for ourselves, for our communities and for the world at large.

This was my wish for myself and my fellow Africans, given the too-common thinking we’re surrounded by, that anything from outside is better and more desirable.

While these are big mindsets to shift, I believe it all starts with us on an individual level. It all starts with the self.

Self-love vs self-care

Continue reading “On self-love + self-care: resources + goodies”

37 life lessons from 37 years

Episode 3 of Soulful Branding Live with Lulu is all about life lessons. It’s my birthday today and, increasingly, the wiser I get, this time of the year calls for pause and reflection.

8 years ago, I created a 29 lessons from 29 years list. Now, I’m carrying on from there and adding the profound life lessons I’ve learned since – AND how they each apply to soulful branding.

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9 years of Afri-love + so much more than a blog

9 years ago tomorrow, I published my first post on a new blog I named Afri-love. I had thoughts and theories I wanted to explore; discoveries I wanted to share; inspiration I wanted to pass on; and community I wanted to find.

I didn’t know it at the time but, my humble blog was about to be the most powerful vehicle for me to find my voice, to realise my purpose and to build some incredible relationships along the way.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I love creating lists of 9. Therefore, it’s thus fitting to share one with you, celebrating this 9th anniversary of what has become so much more than just a blog! Continue reading “9 years of Afri-love + so much more than a blog”

#justformechallenge: how to enjoy 28 days of me-time this February

In August 2017, 7 weeks after my son was born, time for self-care – actually, time for anything, other than looking after Leko – seemed like the biggest luxury in the world.

So I gave myself a challenge: commit to doing something for myself, every day of the coming month.

Doing things with a community of like-minded people is always amazing and so I roped in Afri-love Women and others to join in. Sharing helped with accountability, motivation and inspiration.

Let’s do it again!

After the success of that challenge, I’ve decided to run another, this February.

I’ve tweaked a few things, this time around. For those who like a bit of structure, the following are some specific prompts. There are 28 so you could very well choose one for each day of the month: Continue reading “#justformechallenge: how to enjoy 28 days of me-time this February”

Me-time: 9 tips to enjoy more of it this year

Me-time can seem so elusive.

We are often last on our own lists but, this is the year it’s going to change, right?

I’m writing this after the third Afri-love Connection Club vision-boarding and goal-setting workshop I’ve run this year. Pretty much every single one of the 32 women who participated had space dedicated to how they were going to take better care of themselves and make more me-time this year. And I believed them!

But we know how it goes…

So how can we ensure that good intentions don’t fall away to let old habits and the busyness of life take over?

Continue reading “Me-time: 9 tips to enjoy more of it this year”

An invitation to the road less travelled

I am always awed by how things come together and at the appropriate time.

My decision to talk about the road less travelled in August was rather arbitrary. It’s my birthday month and choosing the more uncharted and less understood path, is something that has coloured many of my years thus far. So I thought I’d celebrate that somehow.

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#justformechallenge: how a month of daily self-care went down

Thursday marked the end of the #justformechallenge: a month of consciously creating me-time, every single day.

My #justformechallenge results

I succeeded in doing something, just for myself, for 30 out of the 31 days. On many occasions I felt like giving up – wanting to just skip the day. Often this happened when it got late, I was tired and doing something felt like a big effort. However, I was always glad to have insisted on getting off my behind (or staying on it, if the activity required it 🙂 and giving myself that time, if even for just 10 minutes. Continue reading “#justformechallenge: how a month of daily self-care went down”

#justformechallenge: let’s make August all about me-time

A few months ago, I asked a question about me-time in the Afri-love Women group: “what do you do just for fun?” It seemed like it should be such an easy question but, I myself struggled to answer it.
See, there are things I love to do that I do out of necessity, such as yoga and cooking. Then there are things that I love but, don’t actively do. For various reasons (aka excuses!). For example, I love being by the ocean and swimming in it but, that’s not something I can currently incorporate into my weekly or even monthly schedule (or can I? …). I love to dance but… ok, I don’t really have a good excuse for this one. After all, as a teenager I would do this in my room all the time, with special coloured lightbulbs to set the scene and everything!

I appreciate that there are some mental blocks at play. Continue reading “#justformechallenge: let’s make August all about me-time”

My natural pregnancy journey + birth affirmation cards

I first started to write this natural pregnancy journey post at 20 weeks. I was loving all the education I was receiving about natural pregnancy and birth. Now, at 31 weeks, I’m even more grateful for what I learned and the decisions I’ve made so far – my pregnancy has been such a pleasurable experience!

The natural path

I appreciate that the information about approaches to a more natural pregnancy and birth aren’t the standard and you often have to actively seek it out. Luckily I love to learn and I’m happy to go out of my way in pursuit of the most natural options possible when it comes to many things. From what I put on my skin, to what I put in my mouth. From how I treat myself when I’m unwell, to what I use to clean my home.

Natural pregnancy resources

When I became pregnant, I had a new and most precious project on my hands and I dived in with enthusiasm. For those of you with less time, or who may not know where to begin, I thought I’d share some books, services and other resources that have been of great value to me. I’ve also designed some illustrated birth affirmation cards for you to download (details below).

Continue reading “My natural pregnancy journey + birth affirmation cards”