Reflections #4: Walk With Jackie

There she is. . . the “too much” woman. The one who loves too hard, feels too deeply, asks too often, desires too much.

There she is taking up too much space, with her laughter, her curves, her honesty, her sexuality. Her presence is as tall as a tree, as wide as a mountain. Her energy occupies every crevice of the room. Too much space she takes.

There she is causing a ruckus with her persistent wanting, too much wanting.

I am A ”Too Much” Woman, Ev’Yan Whitney

Jackie Asiimwe read to me these words from this beautiful poem by Ev’Yan Whitney as we talked about my being ambitious. She reminded of the joy of wanting something so deeply and pursuing it. The satisfaction that comes with the pursuit.

During our 14 kilometre walk, we engaged in a wide range of topics and here are tidbits on each:

On Leadership, grief and loss

Who defines grief?  We are constantly in cycles of grief: loss of a job, loss of a leader, colleague, loss of a parent; divorce, loss of a house or property. The list is endless. We are all affected differently and therefore we cannot have a timeline for grief. It has no manual.

We agreed that institutions and individuals need to devise better practices around grief. Acknowledge all faces of grief and never ruah people to “stop” grieving. It should not be performative.

As leaders we must take the pressure off of ourselves during seasons of loss and grief. We should know when to pause, reflect, mourn, and when to get help. 

Money matters
Manage your money according to your environment. Do not put pressure to follow people’s patterns. Apply what can work but tailor make it to suit you.

Personal branding
Create a home where you control your narrative. What narrative are you weaving online and offline? Put intention into creating your brand.

Lastly, here is what Jackie penned down about our walk on her Instagram:

Through her book (So, What Next?) and life story, my cousin Kecho has been tackling the grief that families experience from miscarriages. It’s a thing we hardly talk about at our organizations.

Often times, transitions are a moment of grief for an organization and the outgoing leader, but we don’t talk about that grief. We don’t sit with it. We feel pressured to move on quickly.

We don’t talk about the grief that comes with failed relationships. We don’t talk about many grief and loss points.

I am certain that most of our HR policies only think about grief in the sense of loss of a close family member. Do organizations have the right HR, wellness and financial width to support our team members to deal with grief?

Racheal and I pondered how to open up the space to address grief at personal and organizational level.

Jackie Asiimwe

”If you want to walk, talk and connect, please reach out. We are stronger together. One leader, one conversation at a time.” says Jackie in a clarion call to all leaders. I endorse this message. I hope you sign up today!!

Follow Jackie on Twitter , LinkedIn and Instagram to keep up with her walks and meet new leaders.