When you enter a room full of people you don’t know, what do you do? Do you stand back, study the room, take it all in before proceeding? Do you look at faces before fully entering the room, somehow picking the person you might get along with? Pause When you go out with a friend…
Unlocking Me
Reading ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover was indeed an education for me. The words ‘emancipate yourself from mental slavery’ reminded me of ‘Freedom‘, written in 2016. I do need to go back and read it. Truly, freedom is needed. Freedom to be me, to be all that I was created to be. To dream big, to…
The day things changed
We had not had a ladies hangout in months and somehow we agreed to have one on the 26th of March 2022. I picked the date, chose to host, even if only five of use would be available. A few days before, only a handful of ladies had committed to coming but I chose not…
The Certainty of Change
One thing that is certain in life is change. Change will happen, whether we like it or not. Change is something out of our control Change is constant Sometimes , Change may seem drastic Change isn’t something we are prepared for. At times, things happen, things unexpected and then what one knew as normal is…
Eat meatless
One great way of eating healthy on a budget is to have meatless meals. The idea is to load up on whole grains – fibre filled and alternate sources of protein. This post is not encouraging you to go vegan or vegetarian, just encouraging you to embrace eating less meat. Think of adding whole grains,…
Shop local, buy what’s in season
Buying locally available produce is one of my favourite things to do. It’s the pocket friendly way to do things. I typically wait for produce to be in season and then buy them. Imported vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli are expensive, so why not wait till they’re in season? My favourite ‘always in season’ vegetable…
Try Prepping
After planning comes prepping. Meal prep doesn’t always have to involve fully cooked meals. Sometimes, simply getting some ingredients ready is all you. I almost always have chopped frozen fruits in my freezer. This makes smoothie making a breeze. So what do I freeze? Mostly pineapple, soursop, pawpaw and mango. I always look forward to…
Start with meal planning
Meal planning is super helpful. For me, this doesn’t mean I always know the exact meal I’m going to eat, but I’ve figured out what is needed on my weekly shopping list. Leafy greens Cabbage Carrot Bell peppers Onions Ginger Garlic Proteins – mushrooms, fish, eggs Pineapple Oranges Plantain Potatoes Zucchini Beetroot Seasonal vegetables like…
Create what works for you
Have you ever tried to go with the crowd? Jumped on the latest diet plan? Joined the newest gym? Bought and started eating kale or quinoa because others claim they are super healthy? There’s a long list of healthy eating and exercise to dos, but what works for you is what you’re comfortable with and…
Diastasis Recti and Form
I hurt my back while exercising recently. I was in the middle of a deadlift and then I felt a pain in my lower back. For someone who exercises frequently and loves deadlifts, it seems strange but it happened. I can’t explain how, but I didn’t focus on form and therefore hurt my back. It’s…
Structure = Freedom
Having structure in my life makes a huge difference. It may seem inflexible, but I find it quite helpful and it also gives me the freedom to vary things too. Some don’t like structure because it’s normally associated with rigidity. However, this is far from the truth. When I started exercising at home, I did…
Discovering creativity
I always thought creativity had to do with art, fashion and other forms of expression. I never thought of myself as being creative. However, this way of thinking changed last year while taking IIN’s health coaching course. The creativity module is what changed this. The instructor described creativity as expression and this covers a lot…
A Father’s love
I’m one of those people who’s super careful when driving. Always paying attention, letting those who seem to be in a rush go ahead even if I have right of way… and then one day, I had an accident. It was the strangest thing. I can’t explain what exactly happened. I was attempting to park…
Body Love
Do you look in the mirror and wish a certain part of your body wasn’t the way it was? Don’t you sometimes wish you could just tweak or delete one body part or feature? Your tummy, waist, bum, hips, boobs, stretch marks, excess skin, nose…? Not to worry, I am like this too. Wishing my…
Sisters 💕💕💕
Adetoun, Deke & Lola – Muyiwa & Ajuah’s Angels. We haven’t always gotten along but we are best of friends. Distance has come between us, but we have chosen to remain connected. Our bond is even stronger than it used to be, we have grown to love and accept each other. Adetoun and Deke, my…
Affirm your children
Affirm your children, so they won’t need affirmations from outsiders Tell them they are loved, Tell them they are beautiful Tell them they’re intelligent Tell them they are creators Tell them all the good that they are Tell them they can achieve anything they put their minds to Teach them to love themselves Teach them…
Sometimes I am an Impostor
I recently attended the WimBiz Annual Conference and my favourite session was the Impostor Syndrome one. Why? It reminded me that I’m sometimes an impostor. Impostor syndrome refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. While this definition is usually narrowly applied to intelligence…
Every body part is important
Whilst exercising at bootcamp on Wednesday, I fell and hurt my wrist. Coach Ojoi attended fo it immediately and I felt better. However, the pain became worse during the day, I was hardly able to concentrate and ended up going to the hospital to have it checked out. It was my left wrist that was…
The love of words
There once was a little girl who loved words She loved music, she loved to sing She loved words so much she read the dictionary She played crossword puzzles with her grandfather She also read Shakespeare with him She loved words so much it translated to her love for writing and poetry She loved words…
Build a support system
There’s nothing like having people who can help you make life less overwhelming You honestly can’t do it all yourself We all need help There’s no need to get caught up in the ‘I can do it myself or no one can do it better than me‘ bubble. Burst that bubble, throw that thought away…
Spending time with the ladies
In 2018, one of my goals was to spend more time with my friends. Our relationships had become more Whatsapp based, maybe the occasional phone call to some and that was it. I decided to change that and introduced the ‘Ladies Hangout’ – quarterly meetups where we were just us. No roles or responsibilities, just…
Not afraid of the rain 🌧
I had frequent asthma attacks growing up. They were triggered by things like dust, moisture, strong smells, fumes, drastic change in weather and being in the rain for only a few seconds. Some attacks were mild, others left me hospitalized or at home for a few days. In a bid to avoid asthma attacks, I…
Love your body
For me, there’s nothing like exercising outdoors. To breathe in fresh air, to enjoy the calmness, possibly some scenery … Mornings work best for me and so joining Coach Ojoi’s bootcamp January last year was perfect. Started off as a 3month life coaches bootcamp which challenged us to exercise at least 5 days a week…
Childhood memories
My mum loved to bake and cook and she didn’t leave us on these. Once we were old enough to understand what was going on, we were in the kitchen with her. She had a few cook books, a treasure filled with some delightful recipes. I remember our cupcake 🧁 baking days, always a delight…
Who is your boss
I attended a ‘Connecting Stories’ event today and the speaker Mrs. Ayeni shared a few lessons based on her life experiences. The one that stuck out to me was – God is your boss. She said she saw God as her boss all the time. It didn’t matter who her physical boss was – whether…
Who are you?
My children and I went to see Lion King on Sunday. What we watched wasn’t exactly new as we have seen Lion King 2 (the cartoon) so many times. The movie was easy to follow and we all enjoyed watching it. The main lesson I learned from the movie was on IDENTITY. Scar knew exactly…
Speaking nicely to people
Speaking nicely to people is easy but then it doesn’t come easy to everyone I have observed that how people speak to others is based on how they were raised* It’s important to me and I am working on this with my children, as it’s best when they get it while they are young If…
Pillars of Wellness
Last Friday, I had the privilege of hosting an instagram live session on the Eko Wellness platform. I am a member of Eko Wellness, a group of wellpreneurs who have come together to make a difference. The session was about cancer and the guest was Dr. Patrick Ijewere of Carib Health. This post is about…
Create Time
It’s easy to say there isn’t time It’s true, there really isn’t time It’s also true that there’s time We just have to create it Create time for what’s important There’s always time for the important things Time to spend reading the Bible Time to pray Time to exercise Time to eat Time to drink…
Finding Me
As a child, my mother kept my hair in its natural state. My younger sister and I have soft curly hair and so our manes were easier to handle. We only got our hair completely straightened for special occasions. Mum will take us to this lady who stretched our hair with a hot comb and…
Mirror! Mirror!
I love watching my children play, listening to them talk… They are the best of friends most times, they have each other’s backs. You should see them defending each other to outsiders, it is hilarious. The other day, they were talking about marriage and how they cannot marry each other (they are 4 and 6)……
I am Woman
I am unable do everything I am unable to fix everything I am unable to be everywhere at the same time I am not God Every now and again, I need help I don’t assume those around me know I need help, I ask for help I need other people on my team to make…
Hug someone today
I am not a hugger. I observe people first and then when we get to know each other better, then I can start hugging you. This is as a result of how I was raised, my parents are not huggers. Does this mean they love us less than those whose parents always hugged and told…
Be a passenger
Last week, I didn’t drive I was driven and I loved it. Why? I used this time to reflect, observe and appreciate all that was going on around me Being able to do this was good In life, we all need to be able to be the passenger every now & then Use this to…
Be Present
Be present where you are Not because you can’t be somewhere else, but because you are here now It’s okay to want things, it’s okay to dream Be here now, be present, this is important It’s pointless being absent now while dreaming about being somewhere else Why? Because you lose out on the present Make…
Expectations! Expectations!
We all have expectations and we somehow expect others to know what we expect of them (and expect them to act accordingly). So you want something done a certain way and you have explained this to your spouse, colleague, subordinate, friend… but somehow you do not get the result you were expecting. You get frustrated…
Freedom
This is my third trip to Dakar and my first trip to Goree Island. Seeing the caves (I refuse to call them prisons) that slaves were put in all those years back, the chains and all the other memories of slavery, I really and truly appreciated freedom. I said a prayer of thanks for not…
Be Your Sister’s Keeper
Does this happen to you? Your phone rings, it’s someone close to you, you pick up and the caller starts the conversation by saying “so if I don’t call you, you won’t call me?”. Can you identify with this? What are your thoughts? Mine – did this person call to have an argument? How do…
Healthy eating on a budget, how?
I have had a few conversations with those who think healthy eating is expensive. I understand where the thought comes from, but I also know that eating healthy does not have to be expensive. Part of the problem is that people are not thinking local/what’s easily available. Thinking totally sabotages the fact that local foods…
What’s in your line of sight?/ what can you see?
Habits are created around what we see and so it’s important to be deliberate about what’s in our line of sight. Sometimes it’s not about changing thing’s totally, it could simply be about the little changes. These little changes can be edited along the way as improvement is created and one is not dependent on…
thisandthatbyloladotcom 