Recently an old classmate decided to compile the names of those we attended school with. He enlisted the help of five others and when I looked at the list my name and a few others were missing. Shocking! Isn’t it? Perhaps not. Someone sent me a message and said, “you have really changed”. I probed what they meant. Their response was, “from introvert to extrovert”. The person then said, “ask anybody to mention ladies in our school year now and you would be among the first three…..” I had very few close friends back then, I wasn’t miss popular or sporty and the only times I spoke up was against a few bullies. In the same week, I heard of two young people who committed suicide and there was a teenager who shot two classmates. Tragic! isn't it? This prompted me to think of what I would say to myself if I had written a letter to my future self from key moments in my past. What would I say, if I knew the pimply face would someday be less so and that I would leave the bullies behind outlasting them in endurance, capacity, capability and outperforming them? What about that boy who did not notice me, who I now wouldn’t be caught dead with? I can’t recall any but you get the gist. What about those girls who seemed to hit their peak when I was still looking tomboy-ish, wondering, ‘how come and why me?’ What would I say, if I knew that relationship break-up would not destroy me? Or if I knew all my challenges would pass and I would face and overcome even bigger ones becoming more resilient in the process? What would I say, if I knew there was a world out there waiting for me, a successful career, an amazing family, friends and a host of other successes, blessings and accomplishments?

One of my passions is cooking and I like to attempt tricky recipes just for the fun of it. I still remember making my first soufflé over ten years ago and wondering if it would rise or fall. Recently I was watching 'Masterchef - the professionals' and contestants in the skills test were asked to create a soufflé which they all did with varying degrees of success. One of the contestants went through the right steps and appeared to have got his ingredients correctly measured out, yet his soufflé did not rise as expected despite his best efforts. When the judges reviewed his soufflé, Monica Galetti uttered the phrase, "you had a lot of Sou and no ffle". Her comment soon became a rib tickling catchphrase between my sister and I. After three days of laughing at this comment, the penny finally dropped. I realised there was a lesson - about actions not translating to desired results or expectations. I am sure we have all had some 'sou and no ffle' moments. These quickly become defining moments when some life impacting choices come up.

• Do you allow yourself to be defeated, never to make another soufflé or do you get up and make another one even if you’re the only that’s going to eat it?
• Do you allow yourself to be defined by this mistake or failure or do you shake it off, learn from it and move on?
• Do you allow yourself to be haunted by this failure or shortfall adding to others that you have filed in your ‘failure archive’?

In my last post, I talked about opportunities knocking on our doors throughout this year. So, the question is, ‘are we going to be ready when they come?’ To answer this, I want to share a story with you and it’s all about 'doing your part and being ready to take your chances'. A few years ago, one of my work colleagues suggested I write a book after I shared some personal stories