Technically Speaking

Technically Speaking...

So, I’m at dinner with a friend when she tells me her latest romance which lasted approximately 3 months is over. No big deal really, they hadn’t dated very long and it was one of those “trying to fit a circle peg into a square hole” kinda’ things. So it wasn’t that big of a surprise. But what made me get my pretty pink Victoria’s in a wad was the way he had called it quits…by text. I almost up-chucked my artichoke right there in front of our friendly server Tanisha. My friend was worth being broken up with in person. Seriously…what is going on these days?

How is it that with all the “advancements” we’ve had over the past few decades it seems as though there’s been a decline in communication skills and a rise in divorce rate? Couples come home after work and jump on the computer before they even embrace after being apart all day. One half of the couple stays up late at night on the computer when they could be doing a job in the bedroom that’s a hell of a lot more fun than any tapping of the keys might be. And unfortunately men and women sometimes find out about infidelity via some sort of technology (email, dating sites, etc.).

Even dating is becoming some sort of a technology joke. My friend Anna said she was on a date just last week where the guy was sending “work texts” via his phone all night. Then a mutual friend called him and wanted to speak to her. While on the phone, the message alert sounded and a text message revealed that he’d been texting not just another woman…but multiple women sexy and erotic text messages while with her. What in the name of Verizon is going on?Has dating, like our daily lives become just one big multi-tasking activity? I’m not trying to sound like my baby-boomer mom here but “my, my, how times have changed”.

I don’t have kids…but I have friends that do. I have to say, I don’t know how you guys do it. My hat’s off to you my friends in trying to preserve their youth past age 5. And although I am not a mother, I do have some more time left on this planet and I’m a little worried about the future.
I remember how in middle school the phone would ring and I’d scurry off to my bedroom to get some privacy just to talk to my best friend about how scary the new “Thriller” tape is or how I was going through a bottle of hairspray every week. Now a parent has to worry about internet porn or threat of sleazy online predators to keep them busy. Think about it, kids can literally be brainwashed by a stranger without even leaving their home. Scary.

My friend Sara is a teacher in a local middle school who says you can hear a pin drop in her homeroom. Do you remember homeroom? Mine was so loud the teacher had to get us quiet so we could hear the morning announcements. Kids were throwing paper or talking about anything and everything. Now, my friend says she walks in and they are all looking down texting, playing games, or sitting there listening to their I-pods. They even text the friend beside them instead of talking. Granted I know it’s quieter for the teachers, but Jesus on ice skates, kids need to learn communication skills! What's gonna happen in the coming years when their spouse does something that hurts their feelings...text they want a divorce because that would be easier than actually trying to work things out face to face? Or maybe find out by a status change on Face Book?

Please know that I do love the advancements in technology. They have enhanced my everyday life and I tip my hat to Bill Gates every time I get an email from a close friend. And from a business perspective it quite simply ROCKS! I just really think that some of us are taking it a little too far…using it for an escape almost for what lies beyond our front doors, because with technology you control the environment...out there it’s a different story. It also makes it easier to escape a situation that we’re too chicken to face, an excuse for not being honest, and at times allows us to just show a lack of integrity.

This is life people…it’s all about balance. Post your status, check your email, Tweet your favorite twit, buy some stuff, and then…look at that person sitting across from you. That’s really what life is about...N BTW, u may hv so mch fun u find urself LOLing n no time...

XOXO Kris

"Accountability breeds response-ability."

~Stephen R. Covey

So, on a recent Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed, grabbed my coffee and planted my butt on my throne (the couch) and picked up my scepter (the remote) . In flipping through a lot of crappy programming, I hear the voice of a spiritual speaker that I’m not particularly a fan of say “think about what accountability means”. My channel changing finger became as stiff as his freshly hair-sprayed bouffant…I couldn’t help but listen.

Now, he was talking about being accountable to God, and if I’d been sitting in his Atlanta sanctuary, I might have raised my hands and shouted a hefty “Amen” as many southerners do on a Sunday afternoon. But instead, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth and was having one hell of an epiphany right there in my fave PJs. So, as I nursed my iced latte and watched them flash the preacher’s “giving hotline number” across the screen, I couldn’t help but think about how much better the world would actually be if we were all accountable.

Being accountable creates integrity. Think about it. Your other half calls and says they want to meet for dinner. You agree, but instead, you go out with your friends without a call, email, text, or any other impersonal way we have to communicate these days. You weren’t accountable. And do you know the price you pay? You’re now responsible that your other half is justifiably hurt. Not just because of what you did, but the disappointment they are feeling. You see he/she trusted that you would be accountable. You let them down. Your integrity points are crashin’ and burnin’ at this point.

Think about the benefits of being accountable….Being accountable helps put you in the position for great things in your career. If you’re accountable to your clients you’ll retain the business or get repeat business. Being where you say you’ll be at the time you say you will is just an example. But when you do this you are showing your clients that they can depend on you. When you do these things--which is inadvertently being accountable to your company—you will be recognized for your efforts…and if you’re consistent in those efforts, the money-or however you measure success- will come.

And by all means be accountable to you. Many are in unfavorable financial situations right now because they lived beyond their means and are having to suffer those repercussions because they weren’t accountable to themselves. Some are in a relationship that is just nipping away at their self-esteem. If you wouldn’t want your best friend to stay in that unhealthy place…why are you? Others are battling within because they went against the grain of what they hold true to their heart, and now having to go through inner turmoil that could have been avoided.
It may be the easy way out to try to avoid accountability on any level, but in the end the consequences that come from doing that…well that’s not so easy.

Here’s wishing you an accountable life :-) XOXO Kris

I'm baaaaackkkk!!!

So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. You guys deserve an explanation. The truth is that I hit a couple of pretty big bumps in my life. You know, those moments in your life where you look in the mirror and say “wow, how in the hell did I get here?”.

I’m still sorting things out and discovering there’s really a lot of truth to that whole whatever doesn’t kill ya, makes ya stronger thing. The one thing I can tell you is that I don’t wanna get back to the person I was…I wanna make her stronger, healthier, and happier than she’s ever been-not place her back to square one.

The best way for me to get to that place is to get back to blogging. Honestly, the best I have felt during these past few months is when I would get an email or Face Book message saying you guys wanna see more stuff. I bet you had no idea huh? There were days where I would literally want to just crawl in a hole and then I’d open my email and a big smile would stretch across my face…because of you guys. Thank you. Just goes to show you that sometimes you never know the weight of the words you put out there.

So with that being said, grab your wine, chocolate, latte, or whatever your vice may be—we all have one by the way—and let’s get started solving the world’s problems, shall we?
XOXO
Kris