Purposefulme

After seven amazing years and nearly 400 posts, the PurposefulMe Blog has fulfilled its mission of inspiring growth, purpose, and transformation. As this chapter closes, a new one begins—join me on YouTube (@purposefulmechannelolayemi7562) and Instagram

Seven years ago, I embarked on a journey of sharing my learnings and insights with the world through the PurposefulMe Blog. It was a leap of faith after leaving my 18-year career in banking, a step into the unknown driven by the desire to help everyone become the best versions of themselves. I thought it would only go on for a year or two; maximum three years scared I would run out of topics to…

As the year ends, reflection offers a chance to celebrate successes, embrace lessons, and acknowledge growth. Recognise wins, learn from challenges, and express gratitude for experiences. Use these insights to set purposeful intentions for 2024.

As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to pause and reflect. At the start of 2024, many of us had intentions and set some goals with others hopefully going as far as to draw up plans that they used to ensure they stayed on track. You may have had some successes, challenges, and even some disappointments along the way; that is the reason reflecting on your year is a worthwhile…

Gratitude offers contentment and peace amid the festive chaos. By focusing on life’s blessings, we shift from scarcity to abundance. Cultivate gratitude through journaling, savouring small joys, and expressing thanks. Even challenges hold hidden gifts.

The festive season is a whirlwind of activities: shopping lists, family gatherings, work deadlines, travel plans and endless to-dos. Amidst all this chaos, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and miss the beauty of the season. But gratitude offers us a way to pause, reset, and find moments of contentment and peace, even in the busiest times. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com “Gratitude turns…

Family gatherings bring love and laughter—but also drama. Whether it’s old grudges or clashing personalities, tensions can run high. The key is to stay grounded, set realistic expectations, and choose calm over chaos. This holiday, be the voice of peace

Picture this: a family gathering in full swing, the smells of Christmas dinner wafting through the house, laughter filling the air—until they walk in and you whisper, ‘O God’ under your breath. You know who I’m talking about. That one family member or guest who always means well but never quite seems to arrive without their metaphorical baggage. Maybe it’s the aunt who dominates every…

As the festive season arrives, frustration often tags along with the added pressure. A skill we must hone is graceful conflict resolution if we don’t want all our hard work to be derailed.

As we countdown to nativities, Christmas stories, Pantomimes, school plays and carol services, there is a good chance that you will hear the phrase, “Peace of Earth” several times between now and the year but what does this look like in day to day life? The festive season is meant to be a time of joy and togetherness, but for many, it also brings the challenge of navigating family conflicts.…

As the festive season looms and the TV adverts intensify their messages of ‘buy, buy, buy’ and buy some more, we need the strength and confidence to respond to the pressures of the season. The gift of presence is one of the best gifts we can give.

This is the first post in my series designed to help us navigate the festive period and prepare us for a purposeful new year. As the festive season approaches, it’s easy to feel the mounting pressure of gift-giving. Retailers bombard us with sales, social media flaunts lavish celebrations, and we’re left wondering if we’re doing enough. Yet, in the midst of this frenzy, the most precious gift we…

In last week’s post, I explored the use of filler phrases like “blah blah” and “what what,” and it made me realise that there were other phrases in all main languages in Nigeria and I suspect in other regions of the world. I’ve had a few people reach out to me to say how they are suddenly aware of these little conversational fillers with many finding it irritating in others. For some, it’s…

Do you say ‘blah blah’ or, if you’re in Nigeria, ‘what what’? These fillers are handy for skipping details, but in the wrong setting, they can be a recipe for awkwardness. Read on for when this shorthand adds charm and when it’s lost in translation.

Have you ever found yourself halfway through a conversation, zoning out as someone goes on with… well, blah blah blah? This universal expression of verbal shorthand can be a bit of a lifesaver when you want to skip the boring details. Interestingly, while we’re all familiar with “blah blah” in English, it has its counterparts across the globe: in Nigeria, people might say “what what,” which…

Life’s storms and curveballs are inevitable, but resilience lies in learning to adapt and grow through them. Remember, no storm lasts forever. Take one step at a time towards your healing. You’re stronger than you think.

Navigating life’s storms and curveballs is an experience most of us know all too well. We make plans, set goals, and dream of a path that feels sure. But just as quickly as we set our sights on the horizon, life can throw us into unexpected turbulence, leaving us searching for a steady anchor. The storms may come in the form of sudden job loss, health challenges, death of loved ones or broken…

The time came to say an unexpected goodbye to my amazing younger brother. Words fail me but we have hope and faith in a great future, albeit one without him. My heart and prayers go out to everyone dealing with a loss.

Today, with a heart full of sorrow, I find myself writing words I never thought I’d ever have to write in my lifetime. On the 17th of October, I lost not just my brother, but a friend, a confidant, and a man whose presence could light up any room he walked into. My younger brother’s passing after a brief illness has left a void that feels impossible to fill. Screenshot He was a man of…

None of us is immune to hard times so managing our mental health especially during difficult challenges is essential. We all have moments when we need to tap in to the resilience that we are all capable of. Here are some tips to help you.

Life’s challenges often arrive unannounced, bringing uncertainty, stress, and strain to our mental well-being. Whether it’s personal difficulties, global crises, or the changing seasons, it’s important to recognise the impact these moments can have on our mental health. As we face challenging times, especially as we head into the colder, darker months, building resilience and practicing…

There will be times when we have to dig deep to find the strength we need to get through the day. Knowing what to do at these times is critical. It starts with being honest with ourselves and recognising when we need help. It's okay not to be okay.

In life, challenges are inevitable. Whether they come in the form of personal struggles, unexpected setbacks, or global crises, these moments test our resilience and resolve. A global health crisis followed by a global recession and wars in many parts of the world have brought many challenges to all nations of the world with the average person feeling the brunt of it. In my previous post, we…

Kindness is a mindset that we all need but as the world gets more disconnected, kindness becomes more challenging. This week is NSPCC kindness challenge and we have an opportunity to have a reset and connect with people on a deeper level.

As we approach the NSPCC’s Kindness Challenge 2024, which takes place from September 30th to October 4th, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the significance of kindness in our lives. The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is spearheading this nationwide campaign to inspire children, families, and communities to embrace kindness in their everyday actions, while…

The silent force of unconscious bias is one that drives us all to form opinions about others. It can drive us towards making assumptions and judgements that can lead to hatred and division. To tackle this, Bias must be brought to our conscious minds.

Unconscious bias is a deeply ingrained part of human psychology and it is the silent force that shapes our perception of others. It is the automatic judgments and assumptions we make about others based on ingrained stereotypes or personal experiences. These biases are below the surface, often without our awareness, and can shape the way we view, interact with, and treat others. In society,…

Being positive is a choice we all have to make everyday because life happens and it is not guaranteed to be smooth sailing. Positive thinking can be misconstrued as ‘happy clappy’ but it’s more than that. Thinking positively is choosing hope on hard days

The book, ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ is one that has stuck with me for almost five decades because my dad bought it for me when I was in primary school. There is a common misconception that staying positive means we must always be happy, smiling, and full of joy. We often hear phrases like “think positive,” and they sometimes come across as pressure to pretend that life isn’t hard or…

Too many of us are in a constant state of inner conflict because we lose sight of who we are in a world that is telling us who we should be. Learning to make peace with ourselves is lifesaving necessity. Here are some tips to help us.

There is a saying that says, “Life is too short to spend it at war with yourself.” These simple words carry the weight of a truth that many of us struggle to embrace. We live in a world that constantly tells us who we should be, what we should look like, and how we should live. Caught in the whirlwind of expectations, we sometimes lose sight of ourselves, becoming our harshest critics, our own…

All lizards lie on their bellies so how does one know which one has an upset tummy? It’s easy to judge or envy others when we don’t have the details of their situations. We owe it to ourselves to understand life’s unique paths.

Growing up in Nigeria came with many proverbs, analogies, adages and stories and one that stands out says, “All lizards crawl on their bellies, and we don’t know which one has an upset stomach.” This simple yet profound saying captures a universal truth: appearances can be deceiving, and the struggles others face are often hidden in plain sight. It reminds us that just as every lizard has its…