Viva like this

  "You are a diamond. Each time I see you, I see another facet of you that surprises me. Each time the light shines, I notice a different cutting that intrigues me. I anticipate my next meet with you, to uncover another side that leaves me wanting more"                            ~ a quote from my most treasured friend~ Dear granddaughters yet-to-be-born,  By the time you are able to read and comprehend the depth of this letter, I will be long gone. I am writing this to you at the age of thirty, turning thirty-one soon. I want to tell you about my struggle to become a confident woman and share twelve lessons I have learnt about womanhood with you.   As a child, I never felt that I was beautiful nor pretty. I was always compared to people who were smarter and more capable than me. When I wore the most beautiful dress, my childhood friend compared me to a poodle. I was always a boy's best frien...

  Some of my life's most exciting and enlightening lessons come from my interactions with children. Not my own children but children bore by others (if I learn so many lessons from one kid, then either the kid is a Buddha or a pain-in-the-ass).  When I started as a part-time leadership trainer, my first assignment required conducting a three-day workshop for eleven-year-olds. It was a memorable assignment because, after the first day of training, my boss and the team (myself and my two other trainers) sat down at McDonald's, bought six large packets of fries, and ate them all in twenty minutes. That was how exhausting and demanding the job was.  I remember clearly the second day of the workshop. I had to work with a class of thirty students. Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. That was exactly how I felt when I started the lesson. I had students laughing, screaming, moving around and playing while I was trying to conduct a lesson. But thankfully, classroo...