Book Review: Triggers

Book reviews are an old friend, that I haven’t had the chance to visit in a while but constantly I’m reminded of them as the time passes.

Those who know me can attest to my skepticism for both self help and second hand books (both of which this book happened to be), yet I found myself drawn to the electric blue and shimmering gold cover and decided to take it home and give it a read.

Granted it took me a little over 2 years to actually read it, but we got there in the end.

First impressions

My initial thoughts on this book based on both the cover and the blurb, led me to believe that this book would enable me to identify triggers in a bid to initiate positive change within my personal life.

Within the first couple of chapters it dawned on me that this book was in fact geared towards those in high seniority leadership positions. Whilst I couldn’t relate to the examples outlined, there was one thing I read that stuck with me – the concept of ‘daily questions’.

Daily questions

Daily questions can be seen as an alternative to resolutions. This works by setting ourselves a specific set of goal orientated questions which we aim to review on a weekly basis. They key thing to note here is that that each question is scored 0-10 and starts off with ‘did I try my best to…” e.g: Did I try my best to eat healthily?

The simple change of phrasing, triggers a behavioural and emotional response, as we now feel that our goals are truly in our hands and require effort on our part to score 10’s across the board.

If we are continually scoring 0 on our daily questions, one could argue that we should just remove the specific goal in question, as clearly it means nothing to us if we can’t even be bothered to try our best to work towards it.

Trying our best doesn’t even have to mean going the full mile and actually eating healthily. It can manifest itself in smaller actions including, thinking of or even planning a healthy meal for later on in the week.

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend this book, unless of course you find yourself compelled to read it – I would definitely suggest looking more into the daily questions as I have found it to be pretty useful as of late.

Let me know your thoughts and if you have any books you would recommend me to read 🙂

2020

2020 has been a difficult year for a lot of us, from dealing with the loss of family members to navigating life during a pandemic (which in itself comes with issues, both mental and physical). No one could have predicted how this year would have unfolded, yet here we are with no other option but to face reality. When will it end is the question that escapes everyones lips, the question that no one has the answer to.

I didn’t expect my blogging hiatus to end on such a doom & gloom note (sorry). I’ve pretty much abandoned this blog for so long, I no longer know how to write. Hopefully this is something I can work on in the near future but for now you’ll have to enjoy the rambling nonsensical workings of my brain.

What I really wanted to say is that we don’t know the direction/journey that life will take us on. If you’re anything like me, there will be resolutions that will remain unmet, but we can’t let that define us. This year has been too mentally taxing for us to then dwell on the things that we can’t change. All we can do is pick ourselves up and try again.

My prayer for everyone reading (and not reading ) this, is that 2021 will be kind to you, I pray that all your dreams, manifestations, prayers come into fruition.

God bless, always x

Small Bedroom Transformation

Hey guys, how are we all keeping?

So this post is a little different, but I’m super happy with the results so I couldn’t help but share ☺️

Working from home during the pandemic with multiple of virtual calls a day, had me really wanting to change the space that I was suddenly spending so much time in. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and do just that!

Being my first ever DIY project, I researched heavily into the process of transforming a room – making sure that my efforts (& money) wouldn’t go to waste.

Before

Below are some images of what my room looked like prior to the transformation. As we can see, the walls are quite dark in colour, so I needed to go over the grey with a white basecoat, which is necessary for the new, lighter colour to show up.

I donated my wardrobe to a charity called the ‘British Heart Foundation’ – who then go on to sell donated furniture in their stores with the money from the sale going towards medical research. The TV stand was repurposed to a book shelf in another area of the house, and all remaining furniture…well did just that, remained.

After

£300 and a few days later

As you can see, it wasn’t much of a drastic change but a well needed one! The main thing aside from the colour and minor furniture change, is the absence of my TV 😢

This was a tough one to get rid of but I found it was no longer serving me. I wanted my room to be a space of relaxation (hence the sage green walls) with minimum clutter, so it had to go.

We also have the addition of some new storage, the Brimnes wardrobe & the Malm drawers, both from Ikea.

I have a more detailed product & cost breakdown in my Youtube video which I will link below 🙂 Please let me know what you think in the comments or if you have any questions ❤️

IEC VISA: part 3 – Bunac… is it worth it?

In part 3 of this blog series I will be giving my personal account of using Bunac’s services when it came to applying for my IEC/Working Holiday visa.

Missed the first 2 parts of the series and have no idea what I’m on about? you can catch up here: Part 1 and Part 2.

Starting the process of moving to another country is completely scary, it sounds like a complicated process that you can’t even dream of doing yourself. This is where Bunac comes in. Bunac is an organisation that aims to “assist with visas, jobs, internship placements, travel planning, work abroad travel insurance, accommodation, arrival support, 24/7 emergency assistance and more”. When it comes to IEC visas, Bunac have 2 (paid) programs available; the essentials program and the unltimate program.

The essentials program £389

As stated on their website, the essentials program provides you with the essential information needed to start the visa process, including webinars & a work in Canada handbook. In addition to this you also get access to their closed facebook group, 2 nights hostel accommodation upon your arrival, with access to their resource facilities in Canada & extra job support.

The Ultimate program £529

The ultimate program contains everything within the essentials program, and also includes access to job fairs in London to help you to secure a job before your flight out.

Sounds good right? well, if you want to work in a ski resort then the ultimate program is the one for you as this is the ONLY role they help you to secure. I was adamant that I didn’t want to work in a ski resort so I decided to buy the essentials program… which essentially ended up being nearly £400 down the drain.

To Bunac or not to Bunac

Maybe I had a bad experience, but all the promises that were outlined on the website fell short. I ended up not needing the 2 nights hostel accommodation as I was staying with family. However I didn’t receive any help looking for a Job whilst i was in Canada, I sent out an email detailing my arrival which was never replied to & I ended up feeling more alone than I already did. Also it is key to note that Bunac do not help you with the application process… you still have to do everything by yourself. In hindsight I ended up paying £389 to gain access to a facebook group and a copy of the Lonely Planet’s guide to Canada.

To conclude, I would’t recommend using Bunac seeing as you have to do everything yourself, but if you are keen on securing a job offer before you head out, don’t mind working in a ski resort and have £529 to spare then you should check out their Ultimate package.

Again, this post is based on my own personal experience with Bunac, so there may be more positive accounts out there, it’s always best to do your own research before making a concrete decision 🙂

Hope this helps!!

Thoughts & feelings

I’ve never thought that I, a black woman was ever educated enough to speak on topics that affect the black community.

I felt as though I could never speak on my experiences, let alone anyone else’s.

Coming from an area where I was the majority to now being the minority, in a class where I could count the number of black people on one hand, was a culture shock to say the least. This was the first time I had ever been made to feel different… as though I didn’t belong.

It was the micro aggressions and the snide comments that people didn’t expect you to hear, that set me into a state of paranoia.

Paranoia that followed me through my late teens, the paranoia that fuelled my social anxiexty and depression.

The sad thing is that I’m not alone in saying this….

How many killings and injustices does it take for the world to hear our voices, for the world to hear our pain, for the world to finally hear that we matter, that Black lives matter.

It feels like change is in the air, performative or not, people are finally hearing us. Only God knows if change will actually come but I hope for the sake of our future, past & present that it does.

below is a link to various petitions that you can sign & causes you can donate to. Please help in whatever way shape or form you can.

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#donate

Also if you know of any Black owned businesses or resources that can further serve as educational purposes please link below 🙂