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Gabrielle Gweneth

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Three reasons to give yourself a mini writing project

Do you have positive habits now because of Covid?

Five years since Hurricane Joaquin; are you telling your story?

Sunshine: You probably don’t realise how much you love it

Right under your nose: the free entertainment you’re probably missing out on

The History of Cracked Conch

Guineps, Seagrapes and Sugar Apples

Pictures from My Days, 4

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I was talking to a friend on Tuesday and she menti

A few years ago I learned that a classmate’s gra

A few years ago I learned that a classmate’s grandmother (and family) was responsible for creating cracked conch - one of the most beloved dishes of The Bahamas. ⁣
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𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞! I thought. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞! ⁣
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So I organised a meeting with Yiayia Calliope and we had a wonderful conversation about her heritage and the development of cracked conch. She’s contributed so much to The Bahamas and continues to lead an extraordinary life, but in her mind, it's all ordinary. ⁣
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I published the story on my blog (with the family’s permission), and the response was hugely gratifying. So many people read, left comments and shared the article with their friends and family. ⁣
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Bahamians were excited to learn where cracked conch had come from and amused by the cheeky way the recipe spread. You know what else people explicitly said? It was a great story. ⁣💥
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What stories are inside of you that could similarly excite your community, or make other people proud to share the same background? I promise you: you have them. It’s just that we’re often too close to ourselves to see. ⁣
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One clue to a valuable story is to look at the things your friends and family often boast about on your behalf. If they're talking about it for you, you can be sure it's captivating and you can talk about it yourself! ✨

The temperature has dipped back down a few degrees

The temperature has dipped back down a few degrees in Glasgow and it’s been pretty windy, but there was a sunny window on Sunday so I jumped at the chance to go to the park! ☀️🌳⁣
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Most of the spring flowers are gone now, but this lovely tree was in bloom and I had to show it off to y’all. Isn’t it beautiful? 😍⁣
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Bellahouston. This park is so aptly named. 🌷⁣
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What are your favourite green/outdoor spaces in your hometown?

Sometimes it can seem like there’s nothing that

I’ve done a lot of travelling in my life, most o

I’ve done a lot of travelling in my life, most of it alone. ⁣⁣
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When I was 7 or 8, I flew solo to Poland. 👧🏾 🇵🇱 ⁣⁣
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At 21, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. 🏔 Not solo, but without friends or family or anyone I even knew casually beforehand. ⁣⁣
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Last year, I moved to Glasgow, and thanks to covid I’m still pretty much alone here.⁣ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⁣
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A lot of people ask me: How can you travel the way you do? How is it that you’re so brave? ⁣⁣
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I don’t think of myself as particularly brave, but there are a couple of fundamental truths that keep me grounded and embolden me to pursue my ‘risky’ interests. ⁣⁣
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✊🏾 One of them is the accomplishments of my ancestors. When I think of what they endured, and overcame, to survive the Middle Passage, slavery, segregation, legal racism and discrimination…. how they stayed alive so that I now have life, I am filled to the brim with awe and gratitude. ⁣⁣
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❤️ Closer to my memory than those nameless family members are my grandmother, Gweneth, and her grandmother, Clara, who also inspire me to make the most of my life. I’ve got opportunities they couldn’t even dream of, and can move around in ways their families would never allow. ⁣⁣
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🙅🏾‍♀️ Choosing inaction out of fear, keeping my days as comfortable as possible, does more than leave me with a mediocre life. It disregards, and dishonours, the efforts of my ancestors. ⁣⁣
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This belief motivates me to help other business owners, particularly women of colour and/or from the Caribbean, to connect to their stories and share them with the world. ⁣⁣
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Taking action from this deeper alignment means tapping into an unending source of power within you. Power to show up for the work that scares you; resolve to keep at it even when it’s hard or you’re faced with doubts. ⁣⁣
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My own introspection has been illuminating and rejuvenating, and that’s the experience I strive to create for my clients in our sessions.⁣⁣
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What’re the experiences or legacies that motivate your work in the world? I’d love to hear about them in the comments, or feel free to send me a DM. 🙂

I gave myself the day off yesterday and went on a

I gave myself the day off yesterday and went on a long walk to a new (to me) park. It didn’t have the expansive views of Bellahouston, but it did have lots of well-worn trails, this pretty pond made in the 1800s, and an abundance of bees. 🐝 I got stung twice. 😖 ⁣
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How’d you spend your weekend? I hope you’re getting outside and enjoying the warmer summer days!

You know what I’ve missed a lot of since moving

You know what I’ve missed a lot of since moving to Glasgow? Public holidays. ⁣
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Now before you tell me to just turn on the UK holidays in my Google calendar…I wish it were that easy.⁣
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There are layers of confusion to this holiday thing.⁣
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First, not all the UK holidays apply here. England, Scotland, N. Ireland, Wales… they’re all on their own timetables. Sometimes days off overlap, but it seems most times they don’t. Google kindly notes area observances for me, butttt sometimes, like last Friday, there are holidays in Scotland that don’t even appear on my calendar! 😧⁣
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Here’s another problem: bank holiday vs public holiday. They are not the same thing. Apparently it’s possible for banks to be closed and everything else be open, which, to my Bahamian mind, is totally disorienting. For me, if a bank is closed so is everything else! 🥴⁣
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I can somewhat rely on my flatmate for holiday cues, but that’s not foolproof because he works for an office based in England, and because of the bank vs public holiday thing. ⁣
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With all this, I ended up working through pretty much all of the holidays I could’ve taken off last year. 😕⁣
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What could make this situation clearer for me? Why, a year and half into #glasgowlife, am I still checking my calendar, texting @emmaseabuckthorn to ask whether she’s off, AND waiting to see whether my flatmate leaves for a long weekend, to know what’s going on? ⁣
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The messaging is missing. ⁣
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Scotland, I love your green hills and long summer days, but you are not helping me enjoy them as best as I can because you’re not telling me what’s up! ⁣
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We don’t want to be like Scotland’s information on holidays when it comes to our clients. 🙅🏾‍♀️ ⁣
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We want them to be super clear about why we’re the right people for them to work with, and why our offers are right for them. We do that through our messaging. And our messaging is stronger when we use stories to talk about ourselves and our work. ⁣
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What’s one powerful story you can tell your people today? ⁣
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P.S. This picture is from my afternoon in the park on Monday, which was for sure a holiday. I took my lunch and my book (Watership Down, so good!😃) and basked in the sunshine!

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