Wedding cake-in-the-middle-of-the-road

Being in love is probably one of the most exciting times for both girls and boys. The romantic dates, the text messaging now and again and the surprise visits that causes your heart to skip a beat.

Often young couples are so over the moon that they lose themselves in this idea of being in love and being together forever that ultimately the next step is to get married. But do they understand what it means to be married and the responsibilities that go with marriage besides just being together and happy ever after?

I suppose society does not help a lot in this regard, the fairy tale stories and romantic movies with only the happy and not always so realistic endings. Sometimes hopeless romantics find themselves in that place where tying the knot and being with you forever is all that matters and end up getting married way to soon or early in their lives, not knowing what the dynamics are.

Maybe it would be wise to have a more realistic approach when it comes to relationships and know the responsibilities that go with it, rather going into it closed eyes and have a rude awakening when it is too late.

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Its a poor idea to lie to youself

Working in publishing we often have students working as interns with our teams. I’ve seen many interns come and go and ones that even return to the company as staff due to them being so hard working. But then again I’ve also met the ones that found it difficult to fit in and often don’t know how to handle themselves in the working world. Not due to the lack of maturity but due to the lack of respect.

During lunch the intern currently with the magazine joined our group and what a pleasure to have her around. She was a fourth year student and telling us that she manages to secure another internship at a company abroad over our summer holidays. This youngster is extremely talented and hardworking as we learn that she’s also writing a book and was offered to have her thesis published.

But all of this was not easy, she told us of how even that she soared academically, that socially her existence was equally important if not more. She explained how she experienced student life, being part of Cape Town’s most prestigious universities. She said that as with high school, the students on varsity had such an obsession with what you are, who you linked to and your social status. Being rich was very important to them and being liked and accepted with the “ in “ crowd was much more important than getting that 80% that exam or assignment.

She explained that youngsters would go against who they really are, their beliefs, morals and values just to part of the it group. She said being young and seeing this happen to her own friends she soon had to differentiate between what important and what’s not. Do I want to be popular and lie about who I am merely just to be accepted by a group of people that’s mostly fake or do I want to work hard and make something of myself even if it means to be part of the minority.

This to me was amazing as this youngster had so much more going for her due to her strong foundation and confidence knowing exactly where she was heading. How many youngsters can say that today? I think back to myself and think how peer pressure not only exists in high school but beyond the workplace too. It is up to you to decide if you going to lie about who you are and what your plan is or just to go with the crowd and live up to others expectations.

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The sound of one hand clapping

The sound of one hand clapping, does the statement make any sense at all? How is it even possible for one hand to clap, there would be no sound. I thought that just maybe the statement has nothing to do with the physical hands. As we all know it is impossible for one hand to clap as it would need the second surface (in this case the hand) to produce a sound.

This made me think about the underlying message. The following meaning could or could not be what the topic implies. I see this statement as a department, a team working together for one goal. As you know you need both of your hands in order to clap and hear a sound. Then the same rule applies to the team, each one of the members is needed in order to reach their final result. But in many cases this is easier said than done.

Because teams in most cases are made up from a diverse group of people, is it sometimes hard to get everyone in agreement. In the same scenario, is it also difficult to get everyone working together due to the fact of each member being an individual. It is this individuality that makes us unique.

When a department / team can’t work together will it be very difficult for the team to reach their goal or target as they need the input of all members. This can be a very stressful situation especially for the one leading the group as questions will be asked and answers needs to be given. If one or more persons fail to do their part it could have great implications for the entire team and the project or campaign they’re working on.

This would then for me be, “the sound of one hand clapping”.

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Not all who wonder are lost

While sitting in my car waiting on my sister to finish up at work, I keep myself busy by just watching people walking by. Don’t judge but this could easily be one of my favourite pass times. Watching the different people rushing home from work, rushing to catch their train or bus and some just taking their time getting to wherever it is they need to be.

I find myself watching their expressions and telling a story by just looking at them. Who knows, I might be right or I might be way off, but does it matter? Well one afternoon I was again doing my thing while waiting and noticed this group of girls (tourists I assumed) walking by, up and down the same building looking a bit lost.

I sat back and kept my eye on them, feeling that I need to see if I could at least help them find their way. But because I was sitting in my car, I thought it would be a bit weird just walking up to them and I just remained seated. Being a mother, all sorts of things went through my mind and I thought I would not forgive myself if I should read in the newspaper that something has happened to these girls…what can I say, I have a weird imagination.

My paranoia finally got the best of me and I got out of my car and asked them if I could help with some direction as I noticed them walking pass the building a few times. Well firstly to my surprise were they not tourist and very much local, judging by the accents of course. Secondly and lastly, they are students working on an assignment and had to take photographs but could not decide which side of the building would work best, hence walking up and down and don’t forget the camera’s they were sporting – real tourist-y like isn’t.

I walked off to my car feeling like a real tool and vowed that next time I would just mind my own business because not all who wonder are lost.

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How to step from the top of a 100-foot pole

Isn’t the title just so scary? Just reading it out loud makes me think why on earth would I be on a 100-foot pole and then more importantly why would I then want to get off it anyway? The only thing that comes to mind and makes sense in my head is like taking a leap of faith. Nothing that really matters on this earth has any guarantees, so we do kind of live our lives day by day taking a leap of faith.

As individuals we have so much going on in life. We worry about almost everything, no matter our age. We find ourselves worrying about our success, career, studies, family, relationships and the list goes on. Its normal they say (whoever they are) but none of the subjects mentioned above comes without a bit of sacrifice or risk if you may.

The words sacrifice and risk is a bit harsh and not very easy on my ear, I prefer thinking of it as taking a leap of faith. The fear of the unknown can be overwhelming but anything worth it and that matters is worth taking a leap of faith or in this case stepping down a 100-foot pole. If we don’t try, we’ll never know and if we fail (I hope I don’t) we live and we learn and take that lesson with us when leaping into the next.

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Just for today

Just for today (and every other day) I would love for things just to go my way. Is it really too much to ask? God has blessed us with such a beautiful day giving us daily exactly what we need and not necessarily what we always want. But today, I'm feeling low and down, no more energy to go on.

I love that some say, just change your attitude, hell i am one of those people who says it (on good days) but even today is not working. I need time - which i don’t have to reflect and see where exactly I'm going wrong?

Am i wasting my time on the wrong things and could it be that I’m missing the point altogether? Sometimes I wish that I have a GPRS for life, just to tell me, "NO not this turn, take the next or don’t go left, go right. I'm sure I’m not the only one who feels the way I do and that there are many out there that are sitting with the exact same thought or not.

Either way, life does have a way of working out and a special person once told me that the beauty of life is the unknown...yes, not knowing what the further holds. I suppose that’s one way of looking at it and that makes life a bit exciting and make us the people we are today.

And so the same applies to the situations we're facing, some good, some bad and some just plain sad. But not knowing which way things could go, forces us to act and get up and do something -anything. I think that is called HOPE, doing and acting in such a way in order for something to take place.

I do have hope and I do have trust and I do believe that even today when I feeling down and out, those things will come right and that my miracle is on its way.

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For when your spiritual fuel is low

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The Courage to change the things i can. And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Author: Unknown

Image: http://bit.ly/w3pMWQ