 As we plan for 2024, this is a great time to unveil the things you always dreamed of but need to be bold enough to do. Thinking about your dreams as you set your goals is a great way to get excited about the year ahead.
In this blog post, we will remind ourselves of our dreams and motivate ourselves to work towards them in 2024. Documenting your Dreams We all have deep desires and dreams that have been on our lists for a while. Imagine how you would feel if you made progress towards one of them. Whenever someone asks me about my dreams, I wish I had a running list I reviewed regularly. Let's create our list together with the help of the following questions:
Taking steps to make your dreams reality Over the past years, I have been very diligent about setting goals. As I think about 2024, I want to shake things up a little and do something that I have been afraid to do in the past. To inspire others, I am sharing the steps that I am taking.
MC's Story: What have I been dreaming of? I have kept some of my dreams tied down in a box for years. In the spirit of vulnerability, I will share some of them with you.
Final Thoughts Dreams that become reality one day are the best types. When I hear people talk about living out the dreams they had years ago, it inspires me. I look forward to hearing about your dreams and sharing more about mine.
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 As the fourth quarter gets underway, most of us are pooling our last energy reserves and gearing up for the final weeks. I have found a source of motivation in knowing and leveraging our strengths. It is very easy to focus on what we lack and our weaknesses.
In this blog post, I will share the three things I am doing to focus on reviving our strengths. Remind yourself of your strengths Knowing your strengths takes being intentional and making an effort. We are more likely to be ready to share our weaknesses than our strengths. One of the tools that has really helped me with my strengths has been the "The CliftonStrengths® Assessment (formerly Strengthsfinder 2.0)". I took the assessment as part of working with a Coach in 2016 when I was learning how to navigate living in the US. I learned about my top 5 strengths, and they resonated with me. It has helped me become more aware and have a better relationship with my strengths. Questions to consider
Check in to see if and how you are leveraging your strengths Putting your strengths to use is an excellent way to contribute positively to the world around you. I once heard someone say that if you are not leveraging your strengths, you are holding back some of your greatness from your community. This past week, I asked my team at work which strengths they are leveraging today and which ones they hope to leverage. It was eye-opening to confirm their strengths and think about ways to create opportunities to activate those not sufficiently in use. The exercise of asking yourself the question will give you an actual status of where you are leveraging your strengths and where you are not. Questions to consider
Make a plan to leverage your strengths The great news is that we can shine by leveraging more of our strengths. I acknowledge that we only sometimes use all of our strengths in all areas of our lives. However, there might be strengths that you, if you leverage more, will give you the motivation boost you need. My top five strengths are learner, relator, focus, responsibility, and achiever. In the past year, I have leveraged my strengths of achiever, focus, and responsibility, which have helped me succeed. On the flip side, I have not had enough time to leverage my relator and learner strengths as much as I have in previous years. Over the next months, I plan to connect more with people and enjoy the energy it brings me. Questions to consider
Final Thoughts We all have strengths that our personal and professional communities can benefit from when we leverage them. I hope you are leveraging and developing your strengths. As I celebrate my birthday this year, my heart is filled with gratitude for all the experiences that I have had. My birthdays have been more exciting in the past years. Celebrating my son's birthday and mine within a week has been special. As a special bonus, I now have two people with whom to celebrate the special milestone: my twin sister and my son.
In this blog post, I will share the five things that make me proud of how far I have come since my last birthday. Growing and navigating being a working Mother The journey of motherhood has been very exciting for me. I feel very fortunate to be raising our son with my husband. We live far away from our family and do this without an extensive support network. If you read my last post celebrating our son's birthday, I shared about getting comfortable with working towards my career goals as a mother. There was a constant pull and me questioning if I was an excellent mother to our son while I worked hard. This past year, I learned that I am doing good by our son, and he is growing up perfectly. Keeping my commitment to myself This past year has been one of my busiest years ever. Writing my weekly blog became something I needed to be intentional about continuing to do. It was important for me to keep releasing my blog posts and connecting with my community. There were many late nights of working on my blog post because of the commitment I made to myself. My blog is a passion project and a great creative outlet for me. I am very proud that I published my blog weekly on topics that I care about. Seeing awesome parts of the world Since October last year, I have been able to travel to multiple US cities and visit the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten. I am grateful that I get to travel, especially with my family. It was fascinating to see our son learn about airplanes and the airport. The beautiful sites, food, and culture make me appreciate my global life. Achieving professional successes One thing that has been a constant in my career has been that I have great dreams, and this year, it has been the same. The theme for my career in the past year has been "things falling into place." Many of the things I have been working towards over the past five years since joining the company were finally yielding results. I have enjoyed work a lot in the last months, even with the ups and downs. Being at peace The other day, I reflected on how happy I am in this phase of my life. I have found my internal level of peace and happiness. Interestingly, there are still things that I am working through, but I do not feel the pressure that I have felt in the past. I am excited about my future and know that I can do what I set my heart to do. Life has also taught me that everything will work out for good. Final Thoughts Happy birthday to my twin sister!!! I am beyond fortunate to have a birthday companion from birth.  Three years ago, my husband and I welcomed our son into our family. I am beyond grateful to have our little human in my life. Every day with him is really a gift. Leading up to his third birthday, I have been thinking about how motherhood has changed me and the lessons I have learned.
In this blog post, I will share the five lessons I have learned on my motherhood Journey so far. Lesson #1: Enjoy the little things My son and I have something in common: we both like a good laugh. It could be for the smallest things. We have dance parties, make each other laugh, and bond over the cutest things. Our son is living his best life. He reminds me to laugh as often as possible and not wait for those huge milestones to be happy. I want to seize every opportunity to enjoy our moments together, especially in busy times. Lesson #2: Embrace the gift of a great Father This past Father's Day, I celebrated my husband in a post about how I'm learning about Fatherhood through him. I was raised by an incredible single mother. Growing up, I did not know what it was like to have a father in my life. My son is very fortunate to have a father who is loving and very involved in his life. In this third year, I had the opportunity to travel for work, and my husband was there to care for our son fully. I am very thankful for a partner on this journey. Lesson #3: Keep working towards your goals At this stage of my life, I have many personal and professional goals that I still want to accomplish. When I became a mother, one of my fears was that my life would change so much, making working towards my goals difficult. Don't get me wrong, things have changed in my life since I had a baby. However, I have also learned that my determination as a mother is on another level. I have focused on working towards the goals that are very important to me. Lesson #4: Take the time you need for yourself As caregivers, we have a lot of responsibilities that could make us forget ourselves. I really can't remember the last time I slept through the night for a whole week consecutively. Also, due to the limited time I have available, I had to cut down on some self-care tasks that were important to me. This past year, I have prioritized more of those self-care activities that I could not do for the first two years of my son's life. It has been great to explore the things that are now part of my new routine of prioritizing myself. Lesson #5: Lean into the new growth opportunities With every new year of our son's life, we are faced with new experiences and milestones. As a planner, I always try to predict when things will happen to ensure we are prepared. I have learned that while there are some things that you can foresee, there will be things you can't. The funniest has been trying to predict what size of clothes our son will fit in by the following winter. Let's say his growth rate is one of the things that are totally out of my control, and I have made peace with it. Final Thoughts The first three years of my motherhood journey have allowed me to dance, laugh, and do things I have never done before. I am learning many valuable lessons from our son. As much as I get to teach him, he teaches me a lot too. Even with the difficult moments that come with parenthood, the happy moments make it worth it. I am looking forward to this next year.  This year, I marked 22 years of living abroad. I have had the opportunity to meet thousands of other immigrants on my journey so far. Every chance I get, I seek ways to learn about people's stories and experiences. Immigrants worldwide are doing great things, and I enjoy celebrating them.
In this blog post, I will share more about the five types of immigrants that inspire me. Check out my other Her Relocation blog posts about my experiences living in Nigeria, Germany, and the US. Immigrants who have accomplished a lot I am always amazed by people who have built successful businesses, led companies, or succeeded in their careers as immigrants. Often, it shows that they have put in a lot of work and have deliberately chased their dreams and built the life they desire. Immigrants who succeeded against all odds Seeing people who have paved their path or faced many challenges is awesome. I really celebrate seeing people who needed to learn how things worked in their new country. They often did not have access to a lot but have made the best of it. Immigrants who have embraced multiple cultures We learn a lot about the culture as we navigate our lives in new countries, cities, or societies. Immigrants can remarkably incorporate various elements of the cultures they know and are learning about. I really enjoy seeing people adapt to the holidays they celebrate, add variety to the food, and learn about new cultures on their journey. Immigrants who give back and support others There are so many incredible people who have made it their mission to be helpful to others. It is so great to see people giving back, improving their communities, and being able to help others' dreams come true. Immigrants who are living their best lives and still dreaming The life of an immigrant has a lot of ups and downs. So, whenever I see or hear about people enjoying their lives and keeping a positive outlook on life, it encourages me. I am looking forward to many great experiences and stories on my journey. Final Thoughts: MC's Journey Last week, I had the opportunity to speak on an Expat Women leadership panel in San Francisco. It was a great moment to meet other women who were immigrants and working in Tech. Sharing my experiences and hearing from the other amazing women on the panel was very special. I enjoyed connecting with others and celebrating my journey so far. |
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