Friday Musings—04/07/25

What's new with me

Two of the initiatives I recently started at work, virtual coffee chats and performance reviews, seem to be off to a good start. Small wins, but they all add up and can help strengthen a quiet, steady confidence in ourselves. So here's an invitation to celebrate your recent wins, big and small :) Share them in the comments if you'd like, and we'll celebrate together.

I’m also using part of my training budget to do a deep dive into soft skills. These are often described as “people skills”, but they're so much more than that. I’ve been learning things that apply not just to my job, but to my everyday life too. I’ll probably write a longer post or make a video at some point, because I genuinely think the topic is worth sharing and discussing.

🎬

Another win? I’m keeping my promise to upload videos on YouTube. Keeping the promises you make to yourself as one of the most important ways of building self-confidence was actually the topic of one of my recent videos.

This week's video is a short vlog on simple ways to track your progress. It’s often only when we pause and look back that we realize how far we’ve come.

For now, I’m focusing on building the habit and learning the basics of filming and editing. Once I’ve got more videos under my belt, I’ll revisit the big-picture questions. What do I want to keep posting here? Should I focus on YouTube? How do I integrate the two? There seems to be only a tiny overlap between the people who open my emails and those who visit my channel, so I’ll keep both going for a while longer and re-evaluate later on.

🗞️

As the author of one of the books on soft skills I'm reading puts it, learning to say "please", "thank you" and "I'm sorry" is part of developing basic manners, but these expressions seem to be increasingly rare in everyday communication. And yet they are crucial to good relationships, at work and elsewhere.

The day after reading that chapter, I stumbled upon this article on learning to apologize (as I've said before, the Universe has impeccable timing if one learns to tune in!). The author explores why it's so hard for us to say we're sorry, how apologies done well can not only repair relationships but make them more resilient, and the elements we can draw on when reflecting on how to best apologize (avoid the "bad apology bingo", which seems to be so common nowadays).

There are also interesting observations on gender differences, celebrities' non-apologies, and the value of sometimes apologizing even if you aren't really sorry (as one coach I knew once put it, "do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?").

🦊

It's only fitting that a city founded by two brothers nursed by a wolf would maintain a strong connection with wildlife. This amazing photo essay shows the urban wildlife living in Rome’s spaces, including its archaeological ruins. Among them are freshwater crabs that have been living in Rome's sewers for 2,000 years!

A city can obviously be a dangerous place for wild creatures to navigate, and cohabitation isn't always easy. But it was heartwarming to read that there are many volunteers who dedicate their free time to teaching people how to live alongside wild animals, learning to respect them and live more sustainably.

I think part of living intentionally is understanding that we need to respect all the other creatures we share this precious and fragile planet with, so anyone working to create awareness around that has my admiration. Also: the pictures are incredible. I highly recommend you go have a look.

Quote of the week ✍️ 

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin".  (William Shakespeare)

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you have any suggestions or insights, feel free to share them in the comments. And if you know someone who might enjoy my musings, please pass this along—I’d love to grow this community.

Until next time,

ML