His idea on being happy at work was based not on letting successes that become harder to attain be the source of one’s happiness but instead be happy and it will show in your work. The ways he outlined doing this were: exercise, random acts of kindness, meditation, journaling and recognizing 3 happy things that happened that day- so you look at the world through the good things that happened.
Then, this afternoon, I realized how easy it is to write a negative blog. I spoke with another volunteer who agreed, writing becomes easiest when you’re most excited- rants come easy as do posts from inspiration but just regular great things that happened and then subsided, don’t come to the front of one’s mind to share. While I am all for sharing one’s thoughts and ideas, I recognize that if all of my blogs are rants, then it looks to the outsider like either I’m a negative person, this is a negative place or I’m having a terrible time.
None of those are true. While working in Ghana is hard, I came here for the challenge and haven’t been homesick. I feel I am just as happy here as I would be elsewhere. The only place I have day dreamed about is Costa Rica and the beaches of Playa Samara, but I dreamt about those beaches all the time in the US so it’s life as usual :) So, in combining the 3 good things and journaling- I will work to blog the best parts of my day- with the occasional rant included as needed :)
1. Facebook’s rapidly exploding new meme starting these past few days have been the posts that compare what one thinks they do in their career compared to how others see them. It’s funny and a creative way to debunk stereotypes and my favorite, is I get to see how others feel they are being viewed. Like the one I saw titled: Gay Man. As a straight female, I have no idea what it’s like to be a gay man or how they view with all the perceptions and while the creator recognized that it was just his opinion, I liked getting to see someone else’s perspective. Here is a link with a collection of What I do posters: http://twistedsifter.com/2012/02/top-10-what-my-friends-think-i-do-vs-what-i-actually-do-posters/ Great thought- imagine what this would look for international volunteers!
2. I finally got the okra stew I’ve been craving! If I had it my way, I would eat banku and okra stew a few times a week but I had gone two or three weeks since my last serving so it was a treat to get to have my favorite food again! Not only did I have some this afternoon for lunch but I also had some a few days ago for lunch as well- I’m getting back on track!
3. Not too long after I arrived to work this morning I began designing a handout with information for volunteer’s safety in Northern Ghana. It took me until lunch to get everything to fit and look somewhat like I had wanted but is now more reader friendly and will provide future volunteers with something to skim through so that hopefully they can avoid getting the all too common malaria and theft that recently happened to another volunteer. I’m happy that there is a document that really explains to volunteers what to look for specifically in Northern Ghana and is catchy so most of it will be read (and remembered!).
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