Self-Ashtualisation

   Self-help books, We have all heard of those mysterious entities, haven’t we? Some of us find them absolutely inspirational whilst others, total tosh. The question I am asking in this post, as the title has highlighted, is, ‘If they were human beings, would they be genuine or toxic friends to me?’    I have decided to use the friend analogy because to me, reading a self-help book is like getting to know a stranger. I don’t trust them right away, but I’ll be openhearted so that I can get to know them. Cultivating friendships takes time – at least for an introverted person who values deep and genuine relationships like me – and so does digesting the content of self-help books. As I read and after I’ve finished reading a self-help book, I’ll reflect on these questions, because I need to and because being a highly sensitive person and consequently reader, my mind can’t help doing so: ·        Is it trying to empower or overpower me? ·        Is it judgemental or accepting of me?

   When I was in my first year at university – if I remember it correctly – a good friend shared with me an internship opportunity that should have been unmissable. As the title of this post suggested, it was a radio internship – an opportunity I had always longed for, as someone who was, and still am and will always be, fascinated by euphony. Growing up as it were listening to the BBC, I had always dreamt of becoming a radio journalist for that corporation and a voice over artist. To be those things, I realised that I definitely needed some work experiences, so that radio internship opportunity could not have come at a better time indeed. And yet … and yet … I said no … even when – because I could not drive – the good friend offered to drive me if I managed to get the internship! Oh what a fool I had been! Looking back, whilst I knew deep down that I’d regret saying no at the time, I did not know how huge the impact of that missed opportunity would have on my career prospects. Most

When Making Lists Started Making Me Listless    As I briefly shared in my last post, a review of a Chinese restaurant I went to, several days ago I felt stuck and therefore, really stressed. Recently, I learnt that there were two main ways I could view stress: I could see it as a red light, a sign that I’d outgrown certain thought patterns and behaviours, or as a mentor who believed in all my potentials to the point of constantly pushing me out of my comfort zone to help me discover aspects of myself previously unknown to me. Despite feeling utterly stuck a few days prior, however hard I tried, I did not see this particular stress instance as a red light – it was as if there was a book of giving up, in which people who should give up on their goals were listed, and my name was just not there! I was understandably sceptical about the whole woo-woo-sounding visualisation thing, so I decided to use the rational approach of mentally listing the benefits of my giving up on my full-time