Guest Posts

Chatting and Connecting with Susie.

jacquelineobyikocha

The first thing that drew my attention to Susie when I started blogging and during blogging 101 course which seems like eons ago is her consistent contribution and suggestions to a discussion. I find her frank talk refreshing and being in the business of trying to understand a personality through their words, I was drawn to her.

If my perception is not wrong, I would describe Susie as a gentle, conscientious, kind and tolerant woman.

Please read 🙂

 

Cat in a box
Sunshine in one of our travel suitcases, that he loves.

A bit about me.

I am a 47-year-old woman, with a June birthday. I am a Syrian Christian by birth. I belong to the southern part of India. I come from a very loving background with caring, nurturing and guiding parents, who tried their best to instill Christian virtues in me. I went to a school that emphasized old-time values like love for one’s country, patriotism, helping others without care for who they were, and standing up for what was right. After school I went to a Medical School that had Christian values written all over it- this played a great role in my selection of this particular school for my higher education.

It was the first time I had stayed away from home and my parents. I was shocked beyond reprieve that the Christian values of care, love, putting others beyond self, helping one another, unity and patience were far from the real life of the people at the college. I went into an emotional and personal crisis at this stage. From being an A level student, I went to the bottom rungs of the academic ladder. Around this time, I lost belief in God and in my religion.

I wondered and pondered over a God that allowed all the atrocities that went on in the college in the name of Christianity. Injustice and blatant human right abuse abounded there. A system of ragging prevailed,  that went to the heart and soul of a newcomer or a freshman to the college, which in many cases served to shatter the person from within. Being me, I protested openly against this and this made me hugely unpopular. A reign of terror was unleashed at me and I was made to feel hugely uncomfortable during my college life. Needless to say, I did not enjoy my college life.

It was divine intervention that helped me and kept me safe during this time and kept me away from the various vices a person could fall into while away from parental scrutiny. I survived and passed to become a doctor. A year after passing out, I married a man, who by some strange coincidence was from the same college. My marriage was a surprise to many of the naysayers in my college life as my husband was one of the most desirable bachelors of that college and I the least but again God brought us together. Over the years my faith in God has grown and I have come back to the fold like the lost sheep or the prodigal son.

I love writing. I have come to learn that I love listening to people. I can be a talker when I wish but I think I enjoy listening more and analyzing people and their thoughts and deeds. Most of these analyses lead me to life stories that I blog about. I guess I am an introvert.
I dislike two facedness. I am judgmental so am quick to find out if someone is not what he/she says he/she is.
I try to be a nurturer and love my two children very much. I am a dog lover by heart but the Good Lord has put so many cats in my life that I have lost count. I have come to believe that he really loves a good chuckle at my expense 🙂

The purpose of my blog.

At a low point in my life, about three years ago, I quit a job in Medical Research again because I didn’t believe in the work ethics of the place I was working at. I decided to move on, leaving a very respected job. For about a year and a half, I was unemployed and the object of a lot of ridicule. In an attempt to earn some money, I decided to do so by writing.
During this writing journey, I learned further that if one had a blog, writing jobs came easier. I didn’t land any major writing jobs but I got a blog and a lot of blog friends, many of whom are keepers. My blog is about my life. I have almost half a century of life lived behind me – perhaps I can be of good to some soul who has gone through issues like me and is hoping for a friendly listening ear.
I started this blog in order to write but became a reader and a listener by turn. So the objectives of my blog have done a U-turn now from when I started. When I started blogging, it was all about me and promoting myself. These days, it is more about being a listener and helping others, if that is possible. It seems to me that my blog is more about others now than myself.
I like the blogging world a lot except when it airs the political opinions of people who often don’t agree with my political thinking. When it gets beyond a limit, I stop reading their blogs. But otherwise, blogging has been a wonderful experience to me.
Links to some of my favorite posts:

How I stay motivated.

To be honest, I don’t motivate myself at all. I go for days without writing and then there is a deluge of writing with more silence. I like writing when I feel the whim and not when I am forced to do so. During moments of silence, I read others blogs and get inspiration from them, sometimes commenting on their posts that touched my heart or pulled a string somewhere in my being. Often times, these posts serve as inspiration for my own future posts. I have a long memory and so I have plenty of feed to write about inside my own head.

My Blogging Challenges.

I would say, not being able to express myself to my fullness, with absolute freedom for my words and my creativity. I am a little worried and scared about whether people I know and work with or live with will come to know of my blog and my blog opinions. So my blog posts will often be tempered down from what they actually should be. In the process, I have learnt diplomacy but perhaps lost out on some of my innate honesty.

My Word For Others.

Yes, I would surely encourage people to blog and especially if you are going through a personal crisis being a blogger certainly helps when you are down in the dumps. There are so many people out there, who are going through pain just like you and maybe more than you. Perhaps you can be a comfort to them and they, to you.
I would tell new time bloggers to keep writing, small posts frequently, till you reach that place where you can be a model of writing to others. So practice writing as often as your heart tells you. Also, I feel that one needs to write if one feels the urge and not when one feels that one has to join a group of people to belong to a certain belief group. Be honest to your own true self, as much as you can and your honest voice will reach others.

Spend a day with me.

I wake up hearing before the crack of dawn to prepare food for my human and animal family before I go to work. But the first thing I do is open ” Our Daily Bread” and read the readings for the day, reflect on them, pray about them and give thanks. Giving thanks is becoming a bigger part of my life with each passing day. It keeps me positive and hopeful that good things will happen if we go looking for them. After the cooking and packing of lunches and feeding of my strays, I shower and dress up to go to work.
I work as a research administrator in a university college and need to be at work at 8 am. Often being caught in rush hour traffic, I reach work only around 8:30but because I have an understanding supervisor, I often get away with it. Life has been getting easier as my children need less of me and my husband has become more independent in terms of their needs – so I have more time for myself. At work, I complete my day’s work in about an hour and the spare time I have, I sit at my desk and write or think about what to write. Sometimes I study Math to keep up with my daughter’s math homework. I read some books at my desk too and when my watch tells me I have been sitting too long, I take a walk around the corridors of my university.

Looking to the future plans.

First I would like to publish my own research in the world of medicine and make a few publications in my name and then I would like to see my own name in my publications – whether scientific or creative writing. I would like to earn some money from my blog and help other bloggers who so deserve the help they can get and I am working towards this aim. As to increasing the outreach of my blog, I am letting things take their own time and I am pretty casual about it for now. I get joy in seeing a new follower of my blog but more than numbers, I am now interested in making good friends, and people whose company I love. I learn a lot from my fellow bloggers and those I follow and I would like to learn more and more each day.
Thank you, Jackie, for having me.
Susie

Published by jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.

8 thoughts on “Chatting and Connecting with Susie.”

  1. So nice to meet you Susie. A lot of what you have to say resonagtes very strongly with me too. I hope your goals and aspirations come true 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. This is a great interview!! Jacqueline Thanks for introducing us to Susie!

    Greetings Susie! I can definitely relate to your family and moral values. Commitment to family both human and animal is #1 for me also. Glad to get to know you! I will visit your blog today! God Bless!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. HI susie! Great to meet you, I am from India too. Loved reading about you. I am from india too, presently in the US. You come across as an honest and forthright person! All the best to you!

    Like

    Reply

  7. Hello Susie,
    Wonderful to meet you and learn about your life, desires and blogging journey. Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad you’ve regained your faith.

    Like

    Reply

I love it when you decorate my heart with your words..