My bucket list

My Bucket List

My bucket list


Life is the most precious gift we have and it's free, it's also unpredictable and almost always too short.
As young people most of us think we have enough time to fulfill all our dreams and we are very focused on the glitz and glam of life, only once we get older do we relapse who we actually are, what life really means to us and what we truely consider important.


I am 26 years old and married for almost 2 years but only now am I realizing what is important to me in life. In my marriage laughter and playfulness are more important than having a clean house and no socks on the floor, in my career having relationships of trust and mutual respect is more important to me than climbing the corporate ladder at all costs, taking time out to be with the people I love over rules shopping malls and my health is more important than any appointment, deadline or job for that matter. Losing my baby girl has forced me to see life in a different way, being faced with loosing my mother has opened up my eyes to what truly matters, so here are a few things I would love to do before I die:


Work because I love what I do and not because I need the salary every month
Go on a safari and stay in a 5 star game reserve Travel
Visit Salzburg Germany where e Sound of Music is set
Have and raise children ( this would be my greatest joy)
Grow in wisdom continually
Work with a cancer association
Open my own coffee shop
Have and enjoy my own holiday house
Have a bakini body again lol
Add positively to relationships on a daily basis
Grow in patience for everyone and everything
Go on a luxury ship cruise
Host glam dinner parties with lots of crystal and fab flowers
Work for a Pr corporate again - love the business suits and killer heels
Drive a Mercedes
Make someone's dream come true
Have my own designer and wear dresses that make me feel unbelievable

These are a few things I would like to do or have fulfilled before I die, but if I die today I will still be happy and fulfilled because I have had the opportunity to experience great love and great loss, I feel human and thankful and blessed, I have had the grace to take care of my sick mother and work with some of the most amazing people in the world, I have been able to show love and kindness to strangers and I have also been made strong by the battles of life, I feel human and I have a great God to guide my ways.


So if today be my last day all I ask is that I would be entered into grace and thank the Lord for my experiences thus far.


God Bless

Tanya B 

My big fat BIG dream

A coffe shop with a differance

All of us have dreams for our lives, it starts out as a child maybe we dream to be a princess or have a pony,then our dreams change a bit when we go to school- we dream to make the first sports team or achieve greatness academically, be a prefect or even dream to have the attentions of the school hunk!

Then we leave school and a whole new life awaits, a life of endless potential and possibilities, we have the world at our feet and we have dreams about studies, careers, life partners and traveling. What I'm trying to illustrate is that at every stage of life there are amazing opportunities to dream.

My big fat BIG dream though is to be the proud owner of my very own gourmet coffee shop, I would like it to be a place people can come and relax while enjoying great food and really good coffee, a place where people feel at home and have wonderful friendships. My coffee shop will have speciality cakes and teats and the freshest and best in between meals in Cape Town. 

Speciallity Coffees

I would like to creat a warm atmosphere where all ages feel welcome and drawn to, part of my dream is to have my children, which I do not have work in the coffee shop with me, I want to grow my own organic herbs and leafy veg and serve these with or in my meals and encourage healthy living and eating. 

My coffee shop will be child and family friendly and will encompass all that I hold dear and love in this world. I encourage everyone reading this blog to have a dream at every stage of your life, don't ever stop dreaming, having dreams is one of life's most beautiful and wonderful things. 

Much love to all

Tanya B

 

 

Conventional is a good fallback position isn't it

Conventional is a good fallback position isn't it

Conventional is always a safe option to take and helps us sleep well at night but it's not as exciting as taking risks right? We tend to think that when we are young it's great to be a bit wild and take risks live your life and conquer the world, the problem is we are not young forever and our actions have reactions and consequences.

I know a few conventional people and when I look at their lives they are pretty happy, they have good life insurances and policies, they have worked at the same company for a good few years and are careful with their money. In this very unstable economic time we are in living in it has paid to be conventional with ones finances. 

So what's the flip side of conventional- a bit of instability with a lot of unpredictable, in everyday life I guess a bit of both the above is nice but in times of trouble cone national is good. 

At the end of the day a bit of conventional and unpredictable is a great mix, the secret is to choose the proper things as conventional unpredictable. 

Life is filled with many unknowns, in the midst of all the craziness of the world it's nice for me to know that the things I can control is predictable.

Happy  weekend to all

Tanya B

 

We all have our favourites

You cannot chase two rabbits at the same time

"What a strange topic for a blog", this was my very first thought when attempting to find a good angle for this post-the way I understand this is one cannot give your full attention to two major things in your life at the same time, be it work , personal or anything else that has a major and lasting impact on your life. 

I have been struggling to blog lately because of a few personal changes and happenings in my life, out of these experiences I have come to understand a lot about myself, one thing being that I am a very emotional being and if my emotions are not right I am unable to function at my full capacity in anything. 

I could not blog because my heart was broken and tender. I now realize that healing is a long process but one does get to a point where you can function within your grief. Back to my initial point.

When you are facing a life changing challenge your focus and full attention should be given to this situation, granted many of us have to be able to deal with a lot at once, but we have to priorities and pick what comes first, if you are able to do this you are being kind to yourself and those whom your situation affects because you are able to make rational depictions with a pure and free heart and mind, in so doing you are able to consider all consequences and make the right decision, choice or change.

Life is a wonderful journey filled with many emotions, happenings and scenarios, but we must be able to chase one rabbit in our lives at a time. 

Good luck to all who are facing decisions, situations and challenges, be true to yourself and you will come out tops.

Big love to all

Tanya B

 

A rabbit classic

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when you only have one idea

This rings so true for me when I was a teenager and where I see where many teenagers and young adults are today in their mind space. When we are young life is easy and every dream is within your grasp. We challenge all who try and "talk sense" into our heads. 

The idea of health, wealth and the perfect life partner who will fill our hearts and days with love and an ecstasy of happiness is our truth! Actually at first this is very attainable and your one idea of total and absolute success seems real. 

Then life happens...we get heart broken by the first love, we realize the corporate world Is a very morally and personally challenging place and our parents become ill. The truth is these experiences and setback in life are very necessary for our future development and growth, through heart ache we realize what we need out of life and what kind of person we want to walk life's way with, disappointments at work mould us into a space in our career that we are comfortable with without loosing who we are and sick parents humble us and make us grateful and appreciative of life. 

The one idea concept is also dangerous because if that idea fails what are you going to fall back on? If life has taught me anything it's t have insurance, security and some kind of back up plan, we spend so much of our hard earned salary on pension funds, medical aids, life insurance and other safety investments, why? Because nothing in life is a guarantee and we need to have plan a, b and c for if things go wrong like retrenchment, illness and or disability.

To end off I would like to encourage all your adults to study as hard and as. Much as they can and be hard working, once you have those two elements covered you can build on that.

Good luck and a happy future to all

Tanya B

 

One idea can change your life

Have you figured out the second head fake

Have you figured out the second head fake 

The second head fake.....what's that? Well that's life, the second head fake is all about life. Life for each and everyone of us means something different so it's really difficult to write about what is is or how I have figured it out, because I have not figured it out at all in fact I'm just about beginning to understand what this crazy roller coaster of a Reid's called life is about.

I am sure there are ,any of you who like me had a definite plan for your life, you would do well at school, ave a few great friends, study hard at Tech and get a good job which you enjoyed and paid well, you would meet the perfect guy who would love everything you love and want to spend all his fee time doing the things you love. (what a laugh). 

Life is a life long lesson and some of us are really good students, we learn the lesson the first time we make mistakes and others just need to knock their heads and make a few really bad decisions and suffer the consequences before we take the lesson out of it. 

For me life has taught me to be grateful, humble and compassionate. Life has taught me that you are not in control of everything and that I have so many wonderful blessings and goodness in my life. 

I still have a lot to learn but hopefully I can see now with my heart and my eyes and not judge too soon or too harshly, I will try to put myself into the situation of others and listen to advice given and most importantly really listen to people of all ages because we have so much to learn from one another.

Here's to a happy life's journey to all

Tanya B

 

Two heads - are they really better than one?

I am ...

So many things....

I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a cousin, a niece, a collage,a home maker, a mother (to my sweet girl in heaven), I am a employee, a teacher, a healer and a nurturer to name a few.

All of us have so many roles to fulfill in life we have to do our best at work everyday, well those of us who are still trying to prove ourselves that issue have to create a great home for our husbands and families and we have to support friends and take time to do things we also love. Men also have many roles some of which we as woman do not realize.

Isn't the most important responsibility to yourself? To be true to what you want in life and out of life? We can only make others happy and be there for others if we are happy. I am a life long learner, by studying and always striving to improve myself. 

I am a teacher by caring for other children and taking up this role in Sunday school. I am a wife by the vows I took and by my relationship with my husband, I am a daughter to my wonderful parents who have given me so much and made me who I am today, I am a sister to my wise and loving brother, I am a friend to many especially 6 very important ladies in my life, I am a cousin to my sisterhood of cousins, I am a niece to many who are the next best thing to. My own mom, I am a college to wonderful people who I have learned so. Much from, I am a home maker in the making and I am a m other to a sweet baby girl who now look down upon me from heaven. I strive to heal broken spirits of anyone who needs it and I am a nurturer by nature.

Do some introspection today and find out who you really are and what you may mean to so many

Tanya B

 

I am - Perfectly Me

 

Andy Warhol said "in the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes" you can't choose the fifteen minutes, but why would you be world famous?

All of us want our fifteen minutes of fame at some time in our lives. 

I don't think I would be famous for anything significant but if the world revolved around me and my life, My fifteen minutes would be about.....

My crazy personality that drives every aspect of my life. I am a colorful and creative personality type, at times this gets me into trouble, I think with my emotions and always try and save the world and put myself last.

These past few weeks have taught me to tone down, to think before I talk and consider situations from others view points. I have done a lot of meditation and  learned m any a lesson. 

There are positives and negatives to anything in life and to all our personalities so let's take the goodness out of who we are and see the positive in everything. 

Tanya B

 

 

A skill set called Leadership

What makes a leader?

What is leadership? Being a great leader is definitely a set of  very definite skills, these skills take a long time to develop  it encompasses emotional maturity, the ability to be humble but not a walk over and the experience to be able to sense what way to go with out too much detail, these are a few traits of a good leader. 

Another very important leadership skill is empathy and being fair, always maintaining dignity and treating everyone equally. I have been in the fortunate position to have had 2 very great managers 2 men whom I have learned a lot from and who have my respect forever. I believe a manager should guide you without making you feel belittled, should protect you without covering up for you and should mould you and develop you for bigger and better than where you are by giving you the freedom to make decisions and run with projects while they assist and guide you.

Real leadership is development and empowerment, a good leader will always want to build staff and develop their skills, while a slave driver type manager will always milk you for what you can do and never really encourage you to better prospects.

We can be leaders in many things... At home in our communities, at work and even as a mentor to a young adult. Being a good leader is not something you are born to be it needs work especially on yourself as a person. 

We all have people we look up to and can learn from in our lives, here's to all the wonderful and inspiring leaders in my life, my parents firstly and everyone else who contributed and will still contribute to my development and growth

Love

Tanya B

 

"Rock journalism is interviewing people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read"-( Frank Zappa)

What is your definition of rock journalism

Laugh out loud- to my understanding I would say this journalism is reserved for papers such as "die son" and the likes...

Rock journalism is a writing style which depicts the slang of the area in which that paper or article is being published, an easy to read and understand and written in a way that is gripping and entertaining to a selected group of people or audience.

Freedom of speech plays a great role in this I guess. South AFrica is a very diverse country and freedom of speech has different goal posts for different people, what I feel is enough could just be getting someone else started.

Due to this diversity journalism has to accommodate for all and this is not a bad thing,  especially for the media houses.

As previously stated this is my understanding of rock journalism, after doing some research I found that it is actually rock (as in the music) journalism. This Frank Zappa quote has become rather famous within the music journalism circle, it caused some offense and a stir but ultimately was not intended that way.

Just shows, one should always research before writing!

Happiness to all

 

Tanya B

My top 200 achievements

What does achievement mean to you

1. My very best achievement in my life thus far has to be that I am a Mother, I was blest to carry a precious life and even though my baby girl is now in heaven, I consider myself privileged to have carried her and nurtured her for 26 weeks,

2. Being a wife – this requires constant maturity and growth

3. Working towards the end of my BTech

4. Planning a wedding

5. Completing my ND

6. Finishing School

7. Never doing drugs

8. Maintaining good relationships

9. Completing very difficult and complex assignments

10. Working on my Dissertation

11. Working on building my character

12. Being hard working

13. Maintain a solid belief system

14. Staying true to myself

15. Having the courage to follow my dreams

16. Loving completely

17. Facing challenges and overcoming them

18. Facing everyday challenges

19. Being kind everyday

20. Being unselfish when I need to be

21. My abaility to listen

22. To act as a mediator and explain issues to people of different understanding

Shew - this is really difficult , I dont think I have 200 achievemenets yet. I doubt anyone has 200 achievements they can put down on paper. If we really think about it there are many achievements we have on a daily basis, maybe achievements are the wrong words to use these are more like everyday miricles and blessings, god fortune if you like.

The fact that we can awake in the morning with health and strenght - there we go 3 blessings in one line! The fact that we have loved ones and friends, a job, roof over our heads and a warm bed are miricles.

In fact I think if we really sit back and become grateful for life and beauty we could easily fill the page.

Many blessings and good fortune to all reading this post, I pray it provokes a few positive thoughts.

What motivates me?

In life there are many things that motivates one, our motivations will differ depending on the type of personality and character we have, Here are a few things that motivate me:

I am motivated by summer days and happiness, by families that are close and supportive of one another, by the unconditional love of parents and the closeness of siblings, I am motivated by love and respect, by wisdom and understanding, by brightly coloured fruit and the birth of a baby.

Motivation is not something tangible it is something experienced, felt and understood, it is also different for everyone.

The definition of motivation is: The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action towards a desired goal, the reason for that action."

Substitute "organism" with "a human being" and you begin to get it. An implication of the definition is that we need to have a reason behind our actions to achieve our goals. Achieving what you want in life means getting motivated. Inspiration along with perspiration are key ingredients in making you a success.

All in all motivation is whatever gives you a spring in your step towards achieveing your goals be it for your day or for your life.

My ultimate motivation is my family, without them I have no inspiration, support, cheerleaders or believers.

My precious family