The Passionate Voice

“Embrace Bold:” My 2018 Buzzwords

• Agriculture, Career, Communication, Lifestyle, Social Media, Travel

This is a big post for me.

Not only is this my first post of 2018 but this is my first ever PODCAST! (Can you hear my excitement through the cap locks?!)

Starting a podcast was a goal I had in 2017 but I kind of had a baby, so I wasn’t able to get around to getting this goal done. BUT, I’m kickstarting 2018 off in the best way possible and I’m making my first post here on the blog, my first podcast!

2017 – Beautiful Chaos

In my first episode, I reflect on 2017 and the 5 goals I committed to achieving last year. I’m happy to say, I accomplished 4/5 of my goals but by far, the best thing we did in 2017 was welcome our healthy baby boy Blake in May!! He is by far the greatest thing we’ll be able to say we EVER did. Its incredible to think love creates life like this. I summarized last year as ‘Beautiful Chaos’ but I also stuck to my buzzwords ‘Adapt and Adjust.’ Isn’t that what parenthood is all about.. adjusting and adapting… all.the.time?!

2018- Embrace Bold 

I also share in my first episode, my 2018 buzzwords which are ‘Embrace Bold.’ This was partly inspired by the Little Book of Hygge and Oprah’s recent Golden Globes acceptance speech which if you haven’t saw it yet, you can watch it here or read the full transcript here. Based on this mantra of ‘Embrace Bold,’ I’m also sharing my 5 goals for 2018 on the podcast.

Take a listen to my first podcast by clicking on the play button directly below. I hope you enjoy listening and I’d love to hear what you think.

Oh and by the way, HAPPY 2018! 

 

 

Airplanes: A Destination for Silence

• Communication, Lifestyle, Social Media

There aren’t many places where you can now fully disconnect. Places where you can’t access wifi and be hooked to the internet and your smartphone. Places where you can totally be #offline.

Thinking back to my first trip to Europe in 2009, I couldn’t call home on my cellphone, let alone get a wifi signal to use my cell (notice I called it a cellphone not a smartphone, that dates me already!) That was less than a decade ago. Oh how technology has advanced in such a short period of time!

While in Europe, I had to go to Internet cafes or use pay phones with calling cards to call home to let my parents know I was safe and sound. I remember taking photos with my camera here and there at the most memorable tourist attractions but I couldn’t be bothered with documenting my entire trip through the lens of my camera. I wanted to experience it all in person. And let’s be serious, even if I wanted to document it all through the best filters and apps, my flip phone didn’t even have the capabilities to take photos. God, I really am dating myself. 

Fast forward almost a decade later, and you can now connect almost anywhere in the world at any time of the day. They even now offer wifi on some planes which seemed like the last place we’d ever see access to internet introduced. I always thought it interfered with the airplane signals?! #GuessIwasWrong

On most flights where they now offer wifi, they at least have put a price tag to access wifi. Its a hefty price tag, but I am glad they put the price high so it discourages me to pay for internet. 

Here’s why….

Airplanes are one of the last places where we can put boundaries or restrictions on using our smartphones and accessing social media. Its one of the last remaining places where we are guaranteed silence. Where we expect to be left alone. Its one of the last places where we are forced to sit alone with our thoughts… scary I know.

Its where you can read a book quietly or watch a movie… with no dings, no alerts, no vibrations.

On airplanes, I get some of my best ideas. Its where my creative juices get a flowin’. Its where I pull out pen and paper and write down blog post ideas, work on my editorial calendar, brainstorm content for upcoming presentations, process ideas and thoughts and let my mind wander. 

Its one of the best feelings.

I’ve come away from my recent trip visiting my in-laws in Manitoba with many blog posts written and random thoughts documented. Some samples from my most recent two hour personal brainstorm session plane ride?

  • Agriculture faces a re-branding challenge. I tweeted about this idea this week. Its one of the biggest challenges I believe we face in the industry I grew up in and love to work in. I’ll be elaborating on this thought later this week when I serve on a Co-operators ag panel.
  • On the topic of agriculture, it just recently dawned on me that for the better part of my political career, I have been the minority. Working in agriculture in downtown Toronto, surrounded by consumers who don’t know much about agriculture and farming is where I’ve realized I’m not the majority. When I was a kid growing up, I just naturally assumed everyone knew about farming because hey, that’s what everyone did right?! Do those who work in agriculture sometimes forget, including me, that we aren’t the majority anymore in the circles we need to be selling our industry too?! And are we comfortable being the minority?
  • Social media is changing the operational functions of customer service departments for companies and businesses. Both good and bad. I talked about this at a presentation I gave earlier this week from a customer service experience I witnessed on Twitter recently. Blog post written on this = check.
  • A ‘Someday File’ – we all have one. Places we’d like to travel too; things we want to buy; books we want to read; things we want to learn. What holds us back from doing any of it?! After reading more of Mark Manson’s ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ it got my mind racing on so many topics he writes about and my own ‘someday file’ and why I keep making lists but don’t DO alot of them.

So many thoughts I know for a two hour flight 😛 So much writing, so little time. Also, here is to our first successful trip and plane ride with Blake. Thankfully it was a smooth ride and experience. Thanks little man for making this mom feel like she hit the baby jackpot #MotherWin 

Food for Thought [volume 8]

• Food for Thought

+ Most of us believe my generation, millennials spend the most amount of time on social media but what if you learned that Gen X actually consumed more content online?!

+ The majority of people equate success to wealth, status in their jobs/careers or their happiness. But is our generation of millennials redefining success differently than previous generations because of our hunger for work-life balance? Ask yourself what success means to you after reading this article by Careergasm author Sarah Vermunt.

+ A valuable reminder for us social media users to keep in mind – don’t feed the trolls. Dairy farmer Tim May who does a fantastic job on his social media feeds as ‘Farmer Tim,’ makes a great point in this blog post that there is no point in wasting time and energy in arguing with extremists.

+ I was so intrigued after reading this piece, I ordered (and will hopefully soon!) read Canadian YouTube sensation Lilly Singh’s new book – I’m sure there are going to be some awesome laughs!

+ With all the conversation around the buzzword “Fake News,” I thought this was clever of Facebook to share a number of tips on how to spot fake news especially on a platform like Facebook where a majority of us derive our information from each day. This couldn’t be more timely. Its hard to believe that the phrase ‘Fake News’ wasn’t even a thing 5 years ago…

+ After recently starting to read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***, I discovered Mark Manson’s podcast which is brilliant. These podcasts about “What’s the Problem with Feminism” and “What’s the Problem with Men” have a lot of truth to them and make you really think about the role women and men play in typical gender roles.

Food for Thought [volume 7]

• Food for Thought

Happy Easter weekend, friends!

Most of my food for thought articles this week are more ‘sobering’ in nature, which is something as a member of the millennial generation I think we need often. I am all for the positivity of ‘find your passion’ as long as your willing to work hard at that passion.  Sometimes we need that dose of reality to put things into perspective. Enjoy these reads!

  • Loved these 20 pieces of advice from ‘old people.’ One of the lines I think would be most suitable for our millennial generation to consider is, “People always say, ’’Make sure you get a job doing what you love!’’ But that isn’t the best advice. The right job is the job you love some days, can tolerate most days, and still pays the bills. Almost nobody has a job they love every day.” So true! Its a reminder for our generation that we can try and follow our passions or try and find our dream job but the reality is, the perfect job doesn’t exist (there will always be good days and bad ones!)
  • Along those same lines, this honest article by Mark Manson entitled ‘Screw Your Passion’ has a dose of reality as another reminder when we need to ensure our feet are planted firmly on the ground. This line resonated: “But more importantly, what I want to say to these people is this: that’s the whole point — “not knowing” is the whole XXXXX point. Life is all about not knowing, and then doing something anyway. All of life is like this. All of it. And it’s not going to get any easier just because you found out you love your job cleaning septic tanks or you scored a dream gig writing indie movies.”
  • After finishing The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington, this article about ‘busyness’ and what it is doing to us as individuals and as a society is something I am totally paying attention too more personally now. What are things I do to myself that aren’t necessary to survival, both personally and professionally. What are things I can do to help myself relax a bit more and enjoy myself are things I am asking myself more often now, especially as the baby’s due date draws closer and closer (less than 2 months to go!)