I am back in the office and things are still a bit slow — I think things will really heat up next week.
I am using this time to catch up on stuff and prepare for the boss’s arrival next week. I know when he returns, he will demand lots of answers and updates on many things so the earlier I get the stuff done the better.
I think that when he comes back, the boss and HR will have to work together to lift the staff morale because everyone seems to be in a whining mood.
Some employees are complaining about the expensive costs of taking kids back to school, the problems of disappearing house girls and just how broke they are.
It is also weird that we are in the first week of the year and already the rumour mill is talking about an “impending retrenchment”.
How can we stay positive in the year, given all the bad news that is already flying around?
On the family front, things have not quite come back to normal with my parents and siblings. On New Year’s Eve, while at the Coast, I called my parents to wish them a Happy New Year.
My mother sounded pleased to hear my voice though she ended the call by telling me that I need to “make peace before it is too late”.
My father was not as polite as my mother as he accused me of being a “stubborn fool who has been misled by your wife to forget where you have come from”.
It really is unfortunate that my parents imagine that Shiro is the reason for the current stalemate — I ear that unless his perception changes we will not make any progress. Right now, I have adopted the avoidance technique by refusing to take up any form of contact with my siblings.
Tomorrow, I will be meeting a life coach who was recommended to me by Shiro. According to my wife, some of the issues we face in and outside the office have everything to do with how we “perceive the world and how we manage our energy”.
Ordinarily, I would discount her sentiments, but I feel that I am presently in a professional and personal rut and I need someone to help me fix it.
On the professional front, I feel like I am stuck in a rut since I am still performing the duties of two managers with no indication of when it will stop. On the personal front, I feel that I am not reaching my full potential — at home and in the community.
When I spoke to Shiro she told me, “you need a life coach! Someone to help you navigate through life”. Ordinarily, I do not subscribe to this new age and life coach business, but I feel stuck and in need of a new solution.
Shiro seems to be faring much better with her career and her life. She attributes it all to her “life coach, self-help and management books”— things I am not too crazy about.
Last week, I called up Amisi — the life coach — and we had a long conversation where he asked me to answer very many questions.
At the end of the conversation, he emailed me some ‘assignment’, which he said would help him determine, “the kind of support I need”. I also enquired about the costs and he ducked the question by saying I should view the programme as an “investment, not a cost”.
I have been working on the assignment and I must say it is not easy. It is asking me for all manner of questions regarding on many things including my opinions on of all people Trump.
I submitted my completed assignment yesterday and now I somewhat anxious to see how the first session with Amisi will go.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
