The Blog

My 2ooth Blog Post: Milestones That Puncuate

10/22/2014 By Nancy Borg With 8 comments

get-attachment_optIt’s hard to believe that after 4 years of catching thoughts on bedside note pads, endless hours of crafting posts and late night edits, have all somehow culminated into a prideful compilation of 200 published articles to date.  When I noticed this draft entry, it felt somewhat like a milestone.

No secret that I love writing, I always have.  It’s a great platform to share my personal insights, my life’s perspective, and my professional expertise all in one place. It started out as a daily diary of a move and then morphed into a weekly blog.  These blogs are very special and personal to me because they are written in my voice.  I am not a professional writer nor do I claim to be an accomplished author, but my blogs tell a story, nonetheless. Even more precious, they serve as an accurate timeline tracing my journey since I first launched my business.

The greatest part is that The Blog accurately reflects where I was at the time I was crafting its very content.  It was always about what mattered to me then and what inspired me.  Funny that I am so very critical of myself, because when I look back to the beginning, I often cringe at my style of writing. There are early posts that I could certainly edit differently now, but I wouldn’t change a thing.  It was who I was. Then.

Milestones punctuate our life’s journey.  The happy birthdays and celebratory anniversaries are annual reminders to check in with ourselves. In a way, a cause to pause.  Reflect.  If we self-actualize , it will almost always help us grow, or change who we are as a person in some significant way.

It’s nice to have checkpoints that nudge you to evaluate where you are, how you’ve changed, and prompt you to ask where you’re going.  I wonder if you have any.

I’ve changed in the past 4 years.  I would have hoped to.  Perhaps more seasoned (professionally); more self-actualized (as a person); ever-evolving, but still me. Older, wiser, and yes…better.

I want to thank you dear reader, for visiting, commenting, and your continued follow.  Know that my content comes from an authentic place, as I draw from my own personal and professional experiences.  It is with great pleasure that I will continue to share with you my organizing expertise, along with my heart.

I invite you to keep stopping by The Blog as I cross over this milestone and onto the next. 🙂

 

 

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Forecasts, Expectations and Surprises

10/08/2014 By Nancy Borg With 2 comments

golf

With the arrival of Fall, we have increasingly fewer ideal opportunities for outdoor activities,  so with each sunny and warm forecast, our expectations are naturally heightened.

I woke up this morning to a cloudy grey sky and I had to coerce myself out of bed to start my day. The gloomy weather wasn’t particularly crucial to the productivity of my day, but it had already impacted my thinking.

Weather can be a powerful mood changer.

But by the time I showered, prepared for a new client session, packed my lunch and out the door, the clouds had drifted away and the sun was bursting over a crisp and cloudless cobalt blue sky.  I was surprised.  But I was even more surprised about how it shifted my thinking. I was rejuvenated with a more positive energy and grateful to have stolen another summer day in October!

This past summer, although a bit hazy now, I can’t remember a time that the weathermen gave us an accurate forecast. Too often, they didn’t get it right.  When weather matters, it impacts our day. We plan based upon these predictions.

I can recall back in July a couple of times when weather really mattered. The forecasters predicted a stellar weekend. I was invited to a dear friend’s wedding where the nuptial ceremony was to be held outdoors. Elaborate preparations were made to seat all the guests amidst a breathtakingly landscaped vista.

Although there was a Plan B in place, no worries, because the five-day forecast predicted nothing but sunny skies. There was no threatening weather to even consider.  Until that morning. I woke up to grey skies and ominous clouds. The patchy drizzle that continued throughout the day slowly shifted the optimistic forecast to a more sobering realistic expectation. The weather didn’t look promising but it was beyond anyone’s control.  It always seems that man plans and G-d laughs.

After all, it is the chance you take when you plan for an outdoor event. The bride and groom, parents’ and team of event planners, florists, and photographers had to make the call. Adjust and implement Plan B, or take the risk. Weighing in on the hourly doppler radar and trusting updated forecasts were paramount in this decision-making process.

Fortunately and to everyone’s surprise, it all worked out. Not only did the weather hold out, a brilliant mango sun eventually burned through the clouds just as the ceremony began. What a magnificent evening after all.

Later that July, I had a similar experience.  I was invited for a special get-a-way weekend to play golf on a beautiful private golf course.  Weather certainly mattered. The forecast was not great but knowing that it could be wrong, we went anyway. We had the expectation of “expecting the worst and hoping for the best” attitude.  Unfortunately, as predicted, the rain fell hard.  That first day we only got to play a couple of holes, before the glaring sirens ushered us off the course for lightning threats.  Eventually, after a 3 hour rain delay, we went back out to finish the round.

At dinner, we discussed the next day’s game plan.  With a 90% chance of rain, we adjusted our expectations, and assumed that chances were high that golf would be canceled. When we woke up, the soaking grounds confirmed that it had rained throughout the night. The weather didn’t look favorable, so we showered, dressed, and planned to eat and drink our way through the day, lol. If we couldn’t control the weather, we certainly could control our attitude.

But this time, in our favor, the weathermen were wrong.  By the time we finished breakfast, the weather had shifted before our very eyes and the sun broke through. We ditched Plan B, and off we went to enjoy a warm sunny day and another round of 18.  No expectations yielded a welcomed surprise.  Timing was key…the impending monsoon arrived just as we sat down for a late lunch.

I wonder how forecasts affect your expectations. Do you make a Plan B? Does weather impact your attitude?

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Emotional Interruptions: Have You Ever Fallen Off the Grid?

10/01/2014 By Nancy Borg With 3 comments

get-attachment_optSocial Media is not just trendy, it’s an integral part of our culture and it is here to stay.  We all play in the same playground but perhaps in different sand boxes. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, and more, we are all broadcasting in real time, all the time. We are sharing the NOW.

Some of us use Social Media solely as an internet marketing tool for promoting business, while others consider it a viable platform in which to network, or a space to voice opinions, a place to connect with friends (both new and old), or  just an arena to share and post personal photographs of exotic vacations, celebrations & weddings, beautiful babies & grandchildren, precious pets, delectable foods, quotable quotes, breathtaking sunsets, etc.  Each of us are creating a traceable unique and personal timeline and sharing it with the universe. Everybody’s doing it, why not? It’s easy and it’s fun. Until it’s not.

One may also question, is it all real? Is everyone really that happy?  Recent studies reveal that Facebook, in fact, can cause depression.  Scrolling through people’s fabulous vacations, expensive purchases and adorable children, feelings of jealousy and resentment often emerge.   News feeds are bursting with mostly positive things in other people’s lives, and there are notably far less people publicly whining about their sad or unhappy life.

So when life got in my way, I shifted my perspective and my priorities.  Family and work were my focus.  Mid-summer, (for reasons undisclosed) I fell off the grid and flew under the radar.

In life, things happen both good and bad that can derail you, steer you off track and veer you off course. These life events were personal and private and mentioned only to emphasize that for me, Social Media had to take a back seat. My life was interrupted and consequently, my minimal interactions reflected that I was disengaged. Were you aware?  I wondered if anyone even paid attention.  Some did notice my glaring absence and lack of visibility and took the time to reach out to me.  It turns out that Facebook friends really are more than just fans. Go figure.

As an active user of many genres of Social Media,  I hadn’t the time nor the inclination to engage.  Life was too busy.  Admittedly, any kind of Social Media sucks up way too much time.  Sometimes it even feels burdensome.  As a business owner, (by choice, sans a virtual assistant who could manage and monitor my posts for me) I feel a certain responsibility to maintain a Facebook presence and to keep my blogs flowing weekly, and foremost, rich in content. What I’ve recently learned is that although I write for YOU,  I also write for ME.  It’s 100% cathartic. I take pride in sharing my authentic self so when real time trumped screen time, I took the virtual pause that I needed.

It was beginning to feel more like a second job more than something I really enjoyed doing. I always say, “you know when you know,” and so I knew it was time to take that break. There were days after work that I never even walked into my office to sit at my computer, as usual. My phone kept me connected enough, and the down time was actually quite liberating. Life without Facebook felt a lot less frenetic and free of pretense.  When it all became too much,  disconnecting was a healthy relief.

But things weren’t all bad, there was plenty of good too.  The greatest parts of summer were that the weather was stellar and my business was soaring! 🙂 (Hmm…caused me to rethink if Social Media is over-rated anyway)

But the very BEST part of this summer was that it ended with my daughter’s engagement!!  I’m over the moon with excitement! She’s marrying her best friend and soul mate and I couldn’t be happier.  Planning and preparing for this wedding has already begun to shift my perspective once again.

I’m back on course now, flying higher for sure.  Enthusiastic and passionate…just a wee bit more insightful.  Stay-tuned until the next blog.  I’m back on the radar.

 

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