We’ve heard it all before – you don’t have to like the people you work with, but you do need to be professional and respectful in your work relationships. But why?

What if you just don’t like someone you work with and never will?  Can’t you just avoid them instead?

Given the amount of time that most of us spend at work, having professional and respectful relationships will lead to a more positive work environment.  Some of you may have (or do) work in a situation where you have to drag yourself into work every day because of the nature of the relationships at work.  How did/does that make you feel?  Were you able to do your best work in that environment?  Most people are not able to.

Here’s a common situation:
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Often, people come to see me because they are in immediate crisis or because they are going through some significant transitions in their lives. In the course of conversation, we will often talk about what I sometimes refer to as their support network – those people who are ‘there’ for them, who love them without condition, who care deeply about them, who challenge them, who stand by them and walk with them.

Most times, people will share with me a list of people on whom they can rely and they speak fondly of them – spouses or partners who are doing all they can to help, parents who are doing their best to understand, siblings who keep in regular touch even though their own lives may be stressed to the max, friends who drop everything and show up to help out. Some talk about how praying and believing in a Power greater than their own is also a source of support and comfort.

Not infrequently, however, people in crisis or major transition, will share stories of how they have been surprised both positively and negatively by some of those with whom they are in relationship.
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Ah Valentine’s Day, that day of the year set aside for lovers and romance. Visions of Cupid in his cute little diaper with heart-shaped arrows flitting around making people’s soul mate dreams come true. Wait…what? A diaper? Who thought of that?! As a Mother, I assure you, there is NOTHING romantic about diapers… Anyway… I digress.

Valentine’s Day, the day of overpriced flowers, expensive chocolate and feathery lingerie. Thankfully, I am not stressed. No significant other means no searching through rows of ridiculously expensive cards to find one that expresses the right amount of “love” for a person I do not. So rather than concentrate on the whole V-Day hoopla, Andrea and I have put together our list of most hated “being single on Valentine’s Day drivel” for your entertainment.
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Dear Edmonton,

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…”

We’re proud to present the Love Letters to Edmonton writing contest.

Click here or on the image above to share your love letter to #yeg with us!

Contest is open now to March 14^th and multiple entries per person are encouraged.

Click here for official contest rules and regulations: Rules and regs – love letters

Prizes:

1^st: City of Edmonton attraction passes and  a copy of the book “For the Love of Cities” by Peter Kageyama (value over $100)

2^nd: Chocolates from Kerstin’s Chocolates (value of $50)

3^rd: Three runner-up prizes of cool NextGen Swag

We look forward to reading your love letters & sharing the winning entries with all of our readers!

I’m working with a lovely couple who are having the same problems many couples have. Wilma doesn’t feel like she get her needs met and gets hurt, angry and critical. Her husband, Fred feeling criticized and attacked, gets defensive and either withdraws or lashes out angrily – both of which do nothing but add fuel to the fire.

Fred and Wilma came in for a few sessions and after a while they both agreed that they felt like they were “hamsters running around the same old treadmill, over and over again, blaming each other.” I told them that it’s worse than that. They aren’t just cute hamsters running along side one other, getting themselves tired and then ready for bed after a long hamster day together. They have become…

ZOMBIE HAMSTERS!

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February’s NextGen Speaks Out! theme will be relationships.

Relationships are more than just couples in love. They really come down to all sorts of connections we make each day. Some of those connections represent our inner circle. These are people who are close to our heart such as a parent and child, siblings, or the closest of our friends. Other connections fall into our outer circle. These connections are our acquaintances or friends such as coworkers or friends who aren’t “best” friends. Often we forget about that our relationships have greater reach than even that, think about your more ambiguous relationships. People also have an extended network that includes friends of friends or your social media “friends”. This group could also include people you’ve never met and for some people extends to their faith. This month we will be looking at relationships in the broader sense. We hope that you will find some humor and gain some insight through the blog posts. We may even inspire you to reflect on your own relationships to make positive changes.

We also want you to engage in discussion. Come on nextgener’s we know you have opinions and thoughts on these themes too. We’d love for you to comment, start a discussion, and share these posts with your networks.

Check back weekly as we will be adding new NextGen Speaks Out! posts regularly. We’re looking forward to it and hope you do too!

Disclaimer
NextGen Speaks Out, our guest blogging series, is envisioned as a hub for information and discussion. NextGen is a non-political, non-denominational organization focused on giving all nextgeners a voice. NextGen does not represent the opinions expressed by the individual columnists.

The tough get going; at least that is how the saying goes. Getting healthy and fit is not always an easy road to travel on. Even though I am a Leadership Coach and natural bodybuilder, I still find ‘being tough‘ isn’t always enough. I need motivation in my life to keep me energized, focused, and on the path of success.

I need to be inspired.

Inspiration brings light to my path when I find myself in the midst of a dark and lonely stretch in the journey. When obstacles, self loathing, and perceived lack of progress crowd in, I light the lamp of inspiration to see where I am going and remind myself that it can be done.

What are my inspirations and motivations?

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