4 Things

This weeks 4 Things, are things that make me smile! Life can be so hectic but it is still important to remember, to do things that make you smile and treat yourself as often as possible! These are a few of the things, which bring a smile to my face 🙂 Coffee well need I say more – I love coffee, especially cups which arrive, with such cute faces! 🙂

Beautiful Roses from my Man! 🙂

Shopping for new Beauty Products! 🙂

Pretty Candles – especially gorgeously scented ones! 🙂

I have decided to also share my 4 Things via Instagram – if you do not already follow me on Instagram {@inspiredlivingsa} please pop over to link up!

4 Things..., Be Inspired

4 Things

I have decided to revive a series which I shared on the blog a while back, called 4 Things. In this series I share things I love, new things I am trying, places I have gone, things I have learnt or they could simply be, things I would like to share with you.

1 Typo ~ I am loving all my new Typo goodies, especially my Golden-Apple Pen Holder. My bit of “bling” for my desk! All the girls in our house love Typo so it is usually a fight over who gets what! 🙂

2 Lingerie Letters ~ My favourite type of mail to receive! Truth be told my hubby probably gets more excited than I do 😉 It really is such a fun subscription and only costs R95 per month. This months lacy pink pair is so pretty – don’t you agree?

3 Catch Me by Cacharel ~ Officially my new favourite fragrance, which I bough on my way home, from my trip to Thailand. This is a wonderfully summery perfume, which although floral has notes of citrus and almond, making it refreshingly youthful. It is such a pretty fragrance and what a gorgeous bottle – need I say more!

4 Hey Gorgeous ~ I am loving the new goodies I am trying out from Hey Gorgeous. My eldest daughter and I are trying their Banish and Repair range, which we are both enjoying and best of all – their products are “made with love”!

What are your favourite items at the moment? I would love you to share so please leave a comment below this post!

If you would like to read more posts in this series please click here...

Be Inspired, Poems

Happy Woman’s Day

Huggies asked a few women to tell them what or who inspires them, as woman and what qualities they think typify a strong woman. This poem sums it all up for me! Hope you have a fabulous Woman’s Day Weekend!

Happy Woman’s Day!

Be Inspired, Life

Learning to Say NO and Being Happy With It

This is one of those life lessons that you could spend your entire life learning and admittedly it has taken me until this major milestone in my life, to really grasp the concept!

If you like me are a bit of a people-pleaser you will understand how hard it is to say no to people, especially if you are someone, who always puts the needs of others before your own. The one fundamental flaw with this approach to life is a difficultly to say no to people, both in your personal and professional capacity.

So what is the big deal you may ask? Well the biggest problem with not being able to say no, is that you often compromise yourself in the hopes that others will like and accept you. Yikes! Surely nobody wants that for themselves!

Well in a word NO.

This is where it becomes a bit trickier because in your personal life, saying no is somewhat simpler, it can however mean having to disappointment those you love, like saying no to the kids when they want to buy something from the store or have a friend over or turning down a dinner invitation because you are exhausted. Most times people do understand where you are coming from and you realize the world will not come to an end if you say no to them.

The more difficult area in which too put your foot down, and say no, is in your professional life. I see it every day when people compromise who they are just to get ahead and please no judgment, we are probably all guilty of this at some point in our life. If you are happy with this and you can sleep at night, be my guest! However for me, this is no longer acceptable, especially when it starts affecting the plan and purpose for your life.

It is great to feel validated and wanted by always pleasing others but not at the cost of your integrity! You have to realize that saying no is ok and if people like you less because of it, well then too bad, those who are meant to be in your life will stick around no matter what!

Be Inspired, Life, Lifestyle, Super Mom

What Motivates Me

One of my loyal readers who comments often, yes it does feel good to get comments, left a comment on this post, which I wrote quite some time ago!(13th of October 2011 to be exact) It was great as I said, to receive the comment but the best part was reading the post again 🙂 It made me realise that I still struggle with things like acceptance or fear of failure, whether in real life or in the bloggersphere! Reading this post again was rather sobering and also made me realise that you constantly need to reaffirm what you are doing and why, to avoid losing your way completely!

So with that in mind I thought I would share it again!

Please Like Me!

This is all most of us would like, for people just to like us! Well, thanks to modern technology and the popularity of social networking, gone are the days that liking someone in real life, is enough!

After chatting to friends recently about my blog, I had a bit of a reality check about what exactly my motivation for starting Super Mom was. For me it was always about finding something that I could do – just for me, something I enjoy and that stimulates me both intellectually and creatively. Exploring the things that inspire me and using them to engage with the world out there, was always my main aim for Super Mom.

What I have found however is that most of the blogger- sphere is very focused on ratings, traffic, how many followers you have etc. I am not going to lie and say that I don’t care about these things but you can so easily lose focus of why you are doing something and what motivates you to do it.

So what to do? I guess, go back to basics and the reason I started Super Mom in the first place, to inspire and motivate others out there, especially mothers! Which I hope that I am doing! In saying that I hope people realise that I am not in fact a “Super Mom” but I am the best darn mom I can be! I may not be a professional photographer or a master chef but I love doing all these things and sharing them with the world.

I love doing what I do and that is the most important thing. Yes – I want you to like me and follow me but not at the cost of my integrity. Anyway -life is too short to feel like everything you do is a competition.

So – the things I write about may not be world changing or life altering but they are my way of inspiring and motivating – myself and others. Thank you for being a loyal and cherished reader! 😉