Can You Hear Me Now?

If you know me well you’ve probably read the title of this post and sniggered to yourself. Abena writing a blog post about communication may sound like a joke to some of your ears.

For so long I’ve thought of myself as a great communicator as I have no problem with being vocal about what I’m thinking. If someone told me I was a poor communicator in discussions or disagreements I’d probably laugh at them. 

Well its seems as though the joke is on me as several people close to me have recently pointed out that they find it hard to communicate with me because I don’t listen. It took me a while to understand where they were coming from before I realised that for so long I’ve been listening to reply and not to understand.

The Break Up: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

If you know me personally, you know I love birthdays! There is something about other people’s birthdays that gets me super excited. If we’re friends I’ve probably started planning your birthday before you’ve even given it a thought, so there was no surprise my friend asked me to help plan his girlfriends surprise party. After giving him various ideas on locations and themes for the party he dropped the line ‘I can’t wait till her birthday is over so I can break up with her!’ [Pause] I really had to catch my train of thought after he said this, what kind of person plans someone an extravagant party only to break up with them? We all know I’m pro woman in every situation so I was ready to attack him with insults but then I heard what he had to say. He had been unhappy in this relationship for a long time so the break up wasn’t really a shock, it was his timing. Then it dawned on me, in any break up there is no perfect time or place. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Meet The Interns

It’s that time of year again; the suns out, exams are over and graduation season is fast approaching! It just seems like yesterday I received my university results and was preparing myself for my highly anticipated walk on the podium. For many of you graduating this year you may have already started thinking about the next step. You would have found yourself endlessly revising for exams at the start of your summer, to celebrating your final results. Which will eventually lead to you considering your first step within your career, by the time the hype has died down and the summer is over. You may already have an idea of what you want to do and may even have a few jobs prospects lined up. For many people after university a period of interning is the next step. Yes guys after landing yourself in over £30,000 of debt in university fees, working for free may just be the next step.

99% WoMan

Yes I’m back! I’ve finally decided to update my blog after my brief hiatus. There is nothing more annoying than an inconsistent blogger and sadly I’ve fallen into that category BUT I’m here to redeem myself. Over the past couple of months people have asked me, ‘What happened to your blog?/Do you still write?’ To answer those questions in the best possible way, I'll have to be honest with you all and say I just didn’t feel like sharing my thoughts on here. When you have so much running through your mind it’s hard to tune in on your thoughts and write it down. On the bright side I’ve got my mojo back and finally have something I’d like to share with you all; 99% WoMan by Dinah Amadi.

Welcome To The Real World

I never quite understood when my teacher’s would say 'you wait until you enter the real world' when I was in school. Real world? Do we not all live in one world? Life after university really puts this phrase into perspective. The bubble the education system provides us with is completely destroyed when we leave university and enter the working environment. If we’re honest with ourselves the majority of things we learn during our time in education really doesn’t help us when we enter the 'real world'. 

Too Young To Be Rushing Things

With it being the weekend of “love” it’s hard not to stop and reflect on your own love life. For me this festive season of love is overhyped and overrated, although I’m probably only saying this because I’ve never received a dozen red roses and  I only seem to get a “Happy Valentine’s Day” text from my parents. Ha! This time of year may have you feeling some type of way if you spent it alone; a friend of mine called me earlier this week in a strop about how “she’s so tired of being alone” and how she’s “been alone all her life”. There was a clear disconnect between me and her within this conversation because although I’m single just like her, I couldn’t sympathise or connect with what she was saying. My only thoughts during her Kanye West style rant were “what’s the rush to be with someone?”

Read All About It!

 

You may remember a couple months ago I got the chance the to interview the beautiful Tatyana Ali  for Black Beauty and Hair Magazine. To my surprise the whole interview made it into this months issue of the magazine. My first published article! How cool is that?! It still feels surreal seeing my name in bold letters on the first page but I couldn't be more thankful! I decided to post the full article for all my readers, have a read.