A tale of a cat living her best life....

We have a cat. Her name is Mabel and she is a fluffy tortoiseshell. She is a rescue cat we acquired in Singapore.?

You are probably wondering where this is heading. Yes, I understand this is random.

It’s fair to say she didn’t like us very much in Singapore. She “tolerated” us, perhaps because we fed her. She didn’t like being picked up. Didn’t want to be near us so we could pat her, and for the most part has quite a narky look on her face.?

Apparently tortoiseshell cats are more likely to hiss, bite, swat, chase or scratch, and have a “diva” disposition described as “tortitude.”?Here’s the research?from some Veterinarians?in California who cleary had too much time on their hands.?Mabel really only hissed a bit but definitely had some diva 'tude'.?

Then we decided to move to New Zealand, and despite the tude Mabel the diva got to come too.?

Now that she is in New Zealand (having travelled the equivalent of a business class flight with a Thailand stopover for a 10-day spa) she is living her best life. She likes to go on walks with the dog. She comes in and out of the house with much regularity, and sits on the front veranda to watch the comings and goings in the street. She will even sit on the lounge with us and purr. New Zealand agrees with Mabel and Mabel agrees with New Zealand.?

Ok, let's get to the point.

For much of my career in human resources and then diversity & inclusion, I wondered what why I didn’t love it all the time. I thought it was because I just couldn’t be pleased.?Was I just difficult? Was I a diva too?

But every time I did a values assessment or some sort of psychological assessment like?Myers Briggs?or similar, my career choice (working in human resources) was a good fit. So, what was the issue?

In the course I’m currently running, I ask participants to identify and connect their values and experiences to the work they want to do in the future. Makes sense, right? If you get to work in alignment with your values, you will be happier and more fulfilled.?

Values are a funny thing though. Sometimes you don’t know what your values are?UNTIL?they are compromised or?UNTIL?you get to work in alignment with them.?

My values are about fairness, freedom and autonomy and being future orientated. It wasn’t until I left my full-time corporate gig this year, that I realised how much I get to work and live these values by running my own business The Culture Ministry

It wasn’t until Mabel moved to New Zealand that she got to be the cat she needed to be, and live her best life.

Two happy divas over here in Auckland.

Do you get to work in alignment with your values?

Lisa xx