We are what we do

So true! As they say “Birds of a feather flock together”, the same applies to “We are what we do”.The people you surround yourself with tend to “rub-off” on you in one way or another. Think about the friends you spend the most time with – you spend so much time together because you have similar interests and therefore enjoy doing the same things, hence you spend so much time together.

Now the same applies to you are what you do. The reason you are doing what you are is because it is a part of your character. I am in communications because communicating (a lot) is part of who Taryn Blows is. As a child my mom used to play the “silent game” with me. The game was that whoever kept quiet the longest would win a prize! I loved this game (only because I love winning prizes!) however I never ever won because I was such a chatter-box. Today, I’m in the field of communications – coincidence? No, I’m here because this is who I am. It is part of my character.

I’m sure reading this there are many people you can think of that represent the job that they find themselves in.
I think of friends of mine that went into the teaching profession. They were the type that loved helping others and always had all the patience in the world; these characteristics are key in a teaching profession.

I know of many strong-headed, opinionated people that now find themselves in the law industry, why? Because it is part of what their character stands for.

We definitely are what we do otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it I’m sure!

We are afraid of the wrong things

This statement takes my thinking back to the days when we were toddlers, so innocent and naïve to what was happening in the big big world around us, yet quite content and happy with ourselves!
Watching my younger cousins I see how carefree and fearless they were when they were toddlers. They did things that we would not dare to do the older we became because we are too afraid!
They will play with any kid that comes their way – as long as the friend is willing and able, it’s game on! The older we get the wearier we become of people; you see a rough looking bloke walking towards you and immediately you shift your handbag tighter under your arm and you increase your pace.

Kids love to share! It’s very rare that you will find a kid that doesn’t like to give of her sweets (but only to her best friend of cause!). The older we become, it becomes more difficult to give something away so easily.
Stopping at a robot, you’re so sceptical to give the beggar a measly R5 because you’re so scared that he might buy some cheap bottle of wine instead of a loaf of bread!

With that also comes the fact that kids will not say no when it comes to yummy treats (as much as we teach them to not take things from strangers, they always seem to manage to slip-up once in a while when the craving has spoken!). I think of that at my age; when being offered a drink in a club, I am always afraid about who’s buying it and who’s pouring it and my eyes are on my glass until the last sip!

So are we afraid of the wrong things? I don’t think so hey. Unfortunately the older we become the more we realise that we cannot live in our little happy bubble as the world is not that safe happy place it was when we were playing with our friends in the pre-school playground.

What is the Colour of the Wind?

I immediately think of songs like that Pocahontas song, “Colours of the Wind” or the old time Boys to Men classic “Colours of Love” – both the wind and love are things that cannot be seen, but felt.
Both wind and love can be seen more, depending on the intensity of it. By this I mean if it really windy, as in a South Easter galore happening, you are bound to see some poor lady hanging for her life on some lamp post in the heart of the CBD with all her belongings flying across the streets of Cape Town. When someone is in love or is being loved very deeply by someone else, it is something that immediately shows (I’m sure reading this last sentence is taking you back to those days where you had just met your first love and what an amazing feeling it was to be so in love without a care in the world and you absolutely loved it when someone said to you “I can see you’re in love!”).
It is so easy to put colours to certain “intangible” things. I asked around the office what they think certain colours mean and majority came up with the same answers:Red – danger/stopYellow – friendshipGreen – goPink – queer/happyGold – wealthYet when I asked about the colour of wind I got a bit of a blank stare with unsure responses like:“I think white…ja, not sure…” and then a look into the distance as if a colour was about to appear of the breeze coming in.“What is the colour of the wind? See-through of cause!” and then back to work, quite chuffed with the answer she had given me.
I guess all interpretations are dependent on how far you allow your imagination to run with you. For me the colour of the wind differs according to how it feels, if it’s an icy cold wind then I think of and icy blue colour, if it’s a hot summer’s breeze, I see light shades of yellow, orange and red. The South Easter however is like a whole mixture of mismatched colours!