I’m feeling warm and fuzzy on this cold Cape Town morning as I flip through Woman & Home magazine, one of my favourite women’s magazines, only to see my cheezy grin and that of Madam Beijing looking back at me. I wasn’t expecting to see the article until July so it was quite a shock. At first I was thrilled. And then the ego started to make it’s feelings felt! I’ll explain why…

Tell Your Story to Inspire Others

The article is about my journey as an entrepreneur and how I turned my hobby of photography into a business. I share a bit of the process that got me to where I am today and hope that it inspires other creatives to turn their hobbies into something they get to do everyday, and get paid for! I truly believe that we each have a responsibility to share our stories, because in their retelling, we could be helping someone else who is still in the earlier stages of their own journey.

Recounting the journey has made me realise how many twists and turns there have been along the way. It hasn’t always been plain sailing, and it still isn’t. Some decisions I’ve made have been better than others, but ultimately, they’ve all lead to where I am now. And for that I am grateful.

Do you ever reflect on your journey? Do you recognise that there are some things you wish you’d done differently? do you realise though that everything that happened, everything you did has lead you to where you are now? Are you grateful?

The Ego

The ego then pipes up and says that my figures don’t look as impressive as the other women who are featured in the same article. Or I didn’t say the things the way I wanted to. But I’m reminding myself that we’re each on our own journeys and comparison accomplishes nothing, unless it is used to inspire. We’re each exactly where we need to be to learn the things we need to learn to become the person we need to be to build the business and life that we desire.

Does your ego get in the way? Does it very quickly turn an achievement into a criticism? Does it turn a compliment into something negative? Or is it just me?

We’re each exactly where we need to be to learn the things we need to learn to become the person we need to be to build the business and life that we desire

Accepting Progress

So I’m taking my own advice and I’ve decided to take the Woman & Home feature, perceived warts and all, as a feather in my cap and as a sign of progress towards where I want to be!

As long as we’re making progress, we’re on the right track.