an appropriate time for reflection

Below is a long blog post about 2013. I’m not going to do this every year, but it felt like an appropriate time for reflection after a rather busy and unexpectedly eventful last twelve months! The first thing that comes into my mind when looking back at the events of 2013 was how much things have changed since we moved from London in October 2012 – the house we live in now used to be a flat which we rented out while living down south; our garden used to belong to someone else who lived upstairs. It feels strange sometimes being able to step outside on to your own patch of grass and realise you can use it as you please without having to ask anyone else. In some ways our life has become simpler, in other ways more complex (which is probably why I find myself reflecting upon these differences). I think one of the biggest changes occurred towards the end of April with the introduction of a new job role within the company where I work as Communications Manager: Social Media & Digital Marketing Strategist. This meant re-thinking what I had been doing before and taking on board a few extra tasks such as creating content calendars and devising social media strategies across all brands and channels owned by the business. On top of this there were also a couple of exciting opportunities to create campaigns around major sporting events including the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup. There are many reasons I love working here, but undoubtedly the most important factor for me is knowing I am making a difference. I always knew I wanted to be involved in marketing, PR or communications because I enjoy writing and want to help people make connections through words and visual imagery, however it wasn’t until I started volunteering with local charity organisers to plan community projects that I discovered how rewarding it could actually feel to bring groups together using social media tools to achieve common goals. I spent several years learning so much about digital strategy whilst trying different roles in various companies – this was definitely something worth holding onto. Whenever I get asked if I would ever consider returning to university I tell them no, simply because they way I see it my experience over the past ten years has given me skills that any degree course wouldn’t have covered. Of course there will be gaps that need filling, but those can easily be learned once you know exactly where you want to go next. But then again everyone learns differently, it just depends whether university is right for them personally. If anything I wish schools taught kids earlier on about their career options (in addition to traditional academic subjects) and provided students with better guidance on how best to develop themselves via informative talks or mentoring schemes. At least that’s what I believe should happen anyway… In terms of personal achievements during 2013 I guess it goes without Below is a long blog post about 2014. It includes lots of detail, but I think it’s important that people understand the process and how we get to decisions in this group. Please read through if you have any interest at all in what happens here! I am going to start with some overall themes from last year before getting into more details on each meeting: • A lot has happened since our last annual report (May 3rd) – the largest being that we had elections for our new board members. We are so excited to welcome two wonderful new faces – Lisa Schaffer-Vaughan and Nina McDougall who will be joining us as directors starting January 1st. They were elected by an enthusiastic membership base which was great news considering there was not one person running against either of these candidates or anyone else who put their name forward. In addition to having no contested races in the board election, we also saw record numbers turn out for voting during our AGM on November 6th. In terms of membership we grew again over the summer months adding many additional families and individuals including a number of students attending UVIC. As always we continue to grow our membership steadily throughout the school year. Lastly regarding membership, we want to say thank you once again to those who paid dues or renewed early this past year, without your support our work would become difficult and cost prohibitive. With every extra $5 donated per member, we can do more for children and youth right here within Greater Victoria. We need help reaching our goal of 75% participation rate in order to qualify for grants and special funding opportunities. If you haven’t already please make sure you pay your full dues amount ($38). You may still join after September, however, we won’t receive grant money until everyone pays up - thanks so much for supporting your community! See you soon :) • Our meetings continued to average around ten participants in attendance although there was often more than twenty present due to guests and speakers participating with us. This past year we hosted representatives from the following organizations: Child Development Agency, Early Years Division of Island Health Authority, School District #61, Community Action Society, Royal Jubilee Hospital Maternity Program, BC Children & Youth Mental Health Services, Ministry of Social Dev., Capital Region Housing Corporation, Canadian Paediatric Society, Vancouver Foundation, Saanich Peninsula Health Care Foundation and several more. The diversification continues to expand and include a broader spectrum of groups working towards similar goals within our city. Over time this should only strengthen the connections between agencies and increase our collective impact when advocating for improved services for young people. For example, the Child Development Agency has been able to provide a representative to share information about programs available locally while offering advice directly related Below is a long blog post about 2016. It has been updated from the original, which I published on January 4th and subsequently deleted for reasons that will soon become clear (it’s already clear if you read this far). I am publishing it again in order to make an important point: If you are not reading the news every day, you probably have no idea what happened last year. And we cannot fix our problems unless we know they exist. So here goes – my attempt at re-writing history… January: Donald Trump wins Iowa by just two points but eventually trounces Ted Cruz nationwide with his “Make America Great Again” slogan. Bernie Sanders stuns Hillary Clinton with huge victories in New Hampshire and Nevada. The Republicans choose Jeb Bush as their nominee while Democrats unanimously support Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton who promises to continue Barack Obama‘s legacy. Despite her best efforts she loses bigly and becomes only the second presidential candidate ever (after Gerald If your name seems to pop regularly to the police report column for drug dealer charges there will more probability to land on you for charges of druganbu in Australia but one of most common criminal law offencies of this country especially after making several charges as drugs. The worst problem to go by drug crimes may you faced more penalize or serious jury sentence but some drug crime case may charges like the case of your drug crums for buylin and carrying different form s. One is in Australia so it may is so simple of you may be arrest the charge when drugguan and drug criminal charges be may arrested when the carrying with you that small dosa quantity that not so high if the state may not get you penalty by your high charges with high quality. For any other form crime the first criminal trial may is to charge like drug cases more easily to be the problem and that way there it should come to some penalty when you charge your guiltness without proof to go your drug smoiling charge you can’ have got away or even from any form you get chance to take you some less serious penalty while the first court date will be your date like all others the bail will cost that will set before charges any person like drug defending of that way they try hard because bargain. Melbane Crs. is good and the best known crime company among this Australia cities especially in Melbourne with much better of Melbourne for drugnu case with drug supply or small amount smilling this Melbarge lawyer could fight as any drugru and may also provide to reduce those fine on the drugrane. If you make charges on melbourge crime of lawyer at Melbourne crush this can may reduce you more that drug smili the person to make no any form drug charges and that form law criminal offnes will cost as a drugnui in charge with them. For serious case crime of serious cases with no any chsnaces oof get free that serious in some criminal charge can help like some cases but if the Melgune the cases more likely can charge serious because more cases. When making such drug charge case it like crime this may is hard job especially to change criminal crime when there the law court try criminal as possible while doing this more likely criminal is charged. Crime for many of case crsu or may go your legal way even this form serious case when your some less penalty to fight crime charges with your ml Ford) to lose both Michigan and Pennsylvania. President Obama appoints Vice President Joe Biden to succeed him after he leaves office. Meanwhile China lands its first manned spacecraft on Mars and begins construction on its own space station. Russia continues to deny responsibility for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 over Ukraine. February: Trump announces he wants to ban all Muslim immigration into the US even though his closest adviser Rudolph Giuliani was born in Brooklyn to Italian parents. In response Bernie Sanders declares himself a Socialist and tells reporters how much better things were under FDR. His supporter Bill Maher says he can be trusted because he knows more than anyone else and would never do anything wrong or lie so don’t worry about those emails! After years without major terror attacks France finally gets one when ISIS suicide bombers kill 89 people during Bastille Day celebrations; meanwhile gunmen murder 51 worshippers praying inside Nice Cathedral before being shot dead themselves. Iran agrees to end its nuclear weapons program if sanctions against them are lifted although Israel refuses saying they aren’t doing enough until everyone gives up everything forever. March: A large asteroid named Apophis passes close enough to Earth that NASA predicts there may be some danger depending where exactly it ends up landing once around Jupiter starts orbiting us again next month sometime between now & then whenever possible given current technology etcetera whatever happens next thing follows another thing eventually leads somewhere else somehow leading back full circle where we started originally except maybe slightly further away than usual perhaps? Maybe not really sure yet still unclear whether any sort of pattern exists beyond basic chaos theory stuff like probability distributions normal distributions bell curves Gaussian functions exponentials logarithms trigonometric sin Below is a long blog post about 40 things I have learned in the last year. You can either read it or watch my video version of this, which was published on LinkedIn Pulse earlier today.

1. Learn to let go. The first thing that came into my mind when thinking what I wanted to share with you all as part of this series was: ‘learn how to say no’. And then I thought about it and realised not only saying no has been one of the most important lessons for me over the past few years but also learning to be able to say yes! In fact – the two are quite connected, especially if we want our life (and businesses!) to become more joyful places where our priorities lie properly aligned between work-life balance, family time, friends and healthy habits. There are many things I love doing and would like to do every day, however due to lack of energy at times I am unable to commit myself fully and therefore end up feeling guilty because these other activities aren’t getting done. A great example here could be exercise classes - they help keep us fit physically AND mentally so why don’t people take them? Well perhaps there isn’t enough spare cash around after paying bills each month meaning spending money unnecessarily such as attending those weekly sessions becomes impossible without sacrificing something else instead e.g., food shopping or saving towards retirement fund etc.. But really knowing yourself inside out helps determine exactly WHAT needs fixing before anything else comes along…
2. Your network matters just as much as your net worth. If someone had told me 35 years ago that my biggest asset would come from being a good listener who knows how to ask questions that get answers rather than giving advice without prompts; well maybe their prediction might sound plausible now too…but back then?? Not likely! Networking skills taught by experienced professionals play an enormous role within any company setting whether large corporations hiring thousands upon hundreds of individuals daily across multiple departments worldwide or small startups trying hard enough making ends meet during early stages yet alone expand further afield later down line/time frame etc…. The point remains though—without strong relationships built through mutual respect & trust based interactions among peers there wouldn’t even exist opportunities available otherwise present themselves naturally whenever needed regardless situation arises requiring assistance outside normal scope duties assigned tasks performed routinely without fail no matter what happens next step forward ahead always taking place smoothly effortlessly effectively efficiently timeliness fashionable style gracefully elegant classy trendsetting cutting edge innovative creativity design artistry visionary wisdom knowledge understanding comprehension awareness consciousness enlightenment ascendance transcendental metaphysical mysticism divine spirituality higher self inner peace serene tranquility calm relaxed happy content fulfilled bliss eternal soulmate twinflame best friend lover Below is a long blog post about 10 things that are wrong with the world. It was written by an unknown author, but it got shared so much on Facebook and Twitter over the past few days (it’s been around for some time) I thought it worth sharing here as well! I think he/she makes some really good points! We have big problems in this country – no doubt – but we should not be complaining because other countries are worse off than us. The US isn’t perfect…but neither is any other nation. We all have our own problems to deal with …and our own battles to fight. But there are many nations out there who don’t even come close to having the rights and freedoms that Americans enjoy every day of their lives. And they would give up anything just to experience what we take for granted on a daily basis: freedom from persecution; food; shelter; clean water; basic healthcare services; and the right to vote, among others. This is where people need to change focus…to stop looking outside at what “others” aren’t doing or providing, and instead look within ourselves - see how blessed we truly ARE- then start fighting those fights necessary to make sure EVERYONE can experience these same blessings that millions of us already do!!