Hey A-Listers,

 

Vitamins and Vampires – that is a saying I have embraced and used for years to describe people. Some people are awesome to be around, have amazing energy, and are like VITAMINS. They energise you!

 

Then you get those with their Ph.D. in negativity, doom, and gloom. Aaah….Eskom, potholes, the government, the cost of living, the price of petrol, and it goes on and on and on. Negative Nancy is in the house – VAMPIRE – drains me of all my energy like a vampire sucking their victim dry. No…thank…you!

 

We often don’t have control over what happens to us in life, but we can control our attitude and how we react to situations/challenges that come up. Managing mindset!

 

Let’s face it, in the last couple of years we’ve had a lot of challenges to navigate (ask me – Covid, looting, floods – the whole shebang), but we soldier on because it’s human nature to do whatever it takes to survive. Song in my head…”I’m a survivor, I’m gonna make it…”

 

Full disclosure, we all have days of frustration and hopelessness and getting caught up in a state of negative thinking and even self-pity, I mean, we are human after all and sometimes it feels like we are stuck in a Jumanji movie fighting for survival, BUT we need to leap from the pity party to a place of power where YOU are in charge and not all the external elements over which you have no control.

 

 

Well, I happen to know this amazing woman, Evelyn Alessandri, who is a life coach, and has been working on POSITIVITY cards for 3 years. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with stage 3 Colon Cancer and healed from it without any conventional medicine (miracle!), that she realised just how powerful your mind can be when you use it positively. What a story! What a triumph!

 

With urgency, she finished the cards and launched them in the hope that they would help as many people as possible to turn their lives around. 

 

I love my box of cards and what it says on the front : “A 52 card deck to help you live a happier and more authentic life”. Who would not want THIS tool in their life?

 

The card deck comes with a gorgeous little stand (for on your desk or next to your bed) and the aim is to pull one card a week, display it on the stand and then work with the message for that week.

 

An example of a card is: I choose to:

The additional message on the card gives you guidance on being clear about how you wish to be treated and what behaviour is and isn’t acceptable to you.

 

It takes huge self-control for me to only do 1 a week as the cards are centred around different challenges that are commonly faced in our day-to-day lives, and the content is awesome and so practical.

"These cards encourage people to invest in their self-care and are a fun way of keeping a positive approach to life. They help you to pick yourself up and dust yourself off. To look on the bright side of life.”.- says Evelyn (another song lingering there…”Always look on the bright side of life…”)

 

If you sometimes feel like you’re wading through wet cement and need some POSITIVITY - treat yourself, or someone special in your life. What’s more, this is the PERFECT gift for all those negative Nancy’s in your life too ‘cos no amount of bubble bath gifting is gonna wash their moaning away.

 

These cards are life-changing.

 

Evelyn also does amazing corporate workshops helping employees prosper in all areas of their lives and improving the organisational culture. I seriously love my POSITIVITY cards and am committed to remaining POSITIVE despite all life throws my way – let’s be VITAMINS not VAMPIRES.

 

 

How excited I was to attend this workshop, I’m a firm believer in taking one’s power back and the truth is, I always worry that I will freeze or lose my Barney “outdoor voice” to scream. I DO NOT WANT TO BE A VICTIM! Reading about a lady that was abducted in PE (can’t pronounce the new name, sounds like I have a furball stuck in my throat) also highlighted the need to be able to react when someone comes at you with a gun, or knife…or just comes at you full stop.

 

I was disappointed deluxe when I fell so ill on Friday and was not able to attend, so I sent my trustworthy colleague, Kerry, in my place. She was super excited to attend and her feedback was incredible. Gave me even more FOMO, and I now cannot wait for the next one. In fact, I think I’m going to put an A-List exclusive one together, who is keen? Like a private class 'cos we can be fancy like that.

 

Shall we do a weekday or Saturday? Morning or afternoon? Email me your preference at hello@thealist.co.za and I will arrange with Ann and Christine so we can EDUCATE and EMPOWER ourselves.

 

Kerry came back and said she enjoyed the talk and practical session, her words were “I loved it and am definitely going to investigate their other self-defense courses. Would love to learn more.”

 

Ooh about the voices – she said they did one exercise on how to use their voice as a weapon. They had to make fists, punch forward and shout “NO!” about 10 times. She said it felt amazing and empowering.

 

Think I might try that at home but might need to put a heads-up on the

neighbourhood watch group before I’m surrounded by armed guards trying to rescue me from my imaginary attacker.

 

Not going to reveal all here – let’s turn this into a thing and get together, watch this space for more info. In the meantime…stay safe and check out www.fightlikeagirl.co.za to see their full offering.