Change is the beginning of the end…of your comfort zone. It is exactly this that is playing out in my life since I began to work at PACT. I can remember the first time I was here – how I cried. But a lot has changed for me since then. I cried because I was overwhelmed with emotions because I was confronted with things and ways that I was not used to. The center is a space full of love, support and kindness. I still have a lot to learn about controlling my emotions but with the ongoing support and overwhelming empathy from the team I am in a much, much better position to get the better of it. PACT as an organisation has spent a lot of time and effort this year on our emotional and personal development and this is the biggest gift I have received in a very long time. I have learnt how to deal with conflict in the workplace and how to run a modern system of stock control (on an iPad) and to make those delicious Portuguese milk tarts, pasteis de nata.
I have also learnt how to take another’s feelings into consideration, when I work in a team. We are all at the end of the day broken people and deserve the same respect and love, no matter your circumstances. Life
is too short to bad mouth people and call them names. I had to start at my own front door with this. Not to condemn or judge others but to be the example of change my community is looking for.
I never was able to do things outside of my comfort zone. I would land up crying and not even knowing why. It’s still tough for me today but I have learnt that my purpose is greater than me and that I cannot allow my circumstance or environment to shape and control me or my actions. So this coming year I want to grow and expand what we bake for the coffee bar – and I want to teach myself new things and work on myself in terms of personal mastery i.e. I want to be helpful and let my role in the PACT space increase, not just in one division…
I want to spread my wings!
– YOLANDI AGULHAS
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