The difference between Personality and Character

 Many times when someone mentions character and personality in one sentence, we tend to do a double-check within our minds, well maybe just me. But the two words have incessantly been used interchangeably that we even no longer care which is which. 

In my personal development class the other day, we discussed the two terms and it is shocking, okay not a lot, how different they are. 

So, what differentiates character from personality? 

I scavenged the internet for a definition of character and Macmillan dictionary defines it as "Qualities making up someone's personality". Now leaves you wondering what personality, which is made up of the character is, right?

To better understand or differentiate the two, use the analogy of a tree. The stem and the leaves (what we see above the ground) is the personality and the roots (what we even don't think about) is the character. 

Character vs personality tree analogy

The personality of a person is depicted by their visible features. The first noticeable, visible attributes you point out about someone you have just met. The old sneakers they are wearing, when they talk your ear off even when you are not on a name basis yet, their non-stop smiling...

These then lead you to make conclusions about their character, the roots that we can't dig up the ground to see. You conclude that because they talk too much then the person is talkative, a character, them wearing old sneakers maybe they are into vintage fashion. It is what we see, personality, that reveals to us what we don't see, character. 

Although, the two go hand in hand, you can not have poor roots and expect to have healthy leaves. Your root system should be strong enough to support your stem system, personality. Many times we focus a lot on our personality and forget what truly matters because, without deep roots, your personality won't stand the winds. 

Someone said that character is like pregnancy, you can hide it but not for long, it will always come to light. 

Ooh, by the way, we are discussing Stephen R. Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" in my class, you should definitely check it out if you haven't. 

How to Thrive in Tech.

 

The Technology (Tech) Field is one that has tremendously grown in the past decades following numerous technologies and tech start-ups. with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an extensive shift in the tech field and how it has influenced most operations in other different fields. The need to thrive in this field and not just be mediocre or lose your mind is highly necessitated. 

In our class orientation today, did l mention am a student at Refactory? Okay, not necessary, we were elated to hear from Ronald K Sebuhinja, Chief Technical Officer at Yo Uganda, and as someone who has been in the tech field for a while now, his presentation was mind-boggling!

So how can you ace your way through this tech field? 

Have a passion for the field. 

Not just passion for coding but passion for the ever-changing technologies. Take it upon yourself to find out what the latest tech invention is, what programming language is selling like hot cakes. The tech field and late nights go hand in hand and if your passion can't see you through the late nights, you might never succeed. 

Acquire Knowledge. 

Learn as much as you can, don't fall back on that one programming language you were first introduced to. Learn how to achieve the same tasks in a different language. Have it on a virtual machine so you don't dismantle your perfect setup. 

Familiarize yourself with the whole pipeline of production, from the idealization, planning, development to deployment. The tech field is constantly changing don't limit yourself to just coding but be flexible and move with the changes. 

Identify what you're good at. 

Scale down what you like and what you are actually good at and strengthen the area you're already excelling at. If you are strong at back-end development, explore more in that. Forcing yourself in a field you are not genuinely good at could end up stalling your overall development progress. 

Practice, practice, practice. 

You will never know what is missing in your code if you don't write it down. Practice as often as you can, code a complete website and deploy it on any of the free hosting platforms. Share your work on platforms like GitHub and get feedback. Write documentation for your programs, make it look like a real gig, and do it to the "customer's" satisfaction. 

While you're at the practice, check out other services in the field and see how they run, could you manipulate a certain platform that you just came across?  Practice both as a tech user as well as a tech developer. 

Network. 

Most of the opportunities will always come easily through the networks you have cultivated. Get out of your introverted programmer mode and join tech communities, locally and internationally. Interact with your idols in the tech field, attend tech seminars or in the modern-day, webinars. These will even introduce you to new tech findings that you would have never known about or maybe have taken longer to know about. 

Take care of your health. 

Having established that the tech field and late nights go hand in hand, very many developers have traded their health, sleep, relationships for perfect code. Take breaks before your body demands them, move upcountry for 5 days without your computer, love and accept to be loved, get married, raise a dog with someone you love. Generally have a life outside your code and computers. 

Consistently be on the lookout for opportunities. 

Programming opportunities are literally available in everything, whatever field. It could be the commerce sector, there's now the association with tech, which is e-commerce. Look out for what you can transform to technology, and that is almost everything. Seek remote freelance opportunities, when you are sure of what you can provide. This will, in turn, keep you growing in the tech field.

May the force of tech be with you as you thrive in this field.

What every girl should experience in their 20s before marriage.

 The other day, l came across a tweet that beguiled me on a one Twitter account @DonCorleANN. It said, "Because l don't want girls giving up their careers and lives for men. Please share what you think girls in their early 20s should experience even before they consider marriage." 

I am one person who advocates for woman emancipation, well on the low, and not tying your life to the needs of a man. Going through the replies was an awakening, like this gospel needed to be preached! And if you are a common Twitter user, you know that aside from the banter, the Twitter community really has a way of dishing out all the helpful and life-saving stuff. 

Okayy let me relay some of the stuff here;

"Date yourself: Get to know what you like/dislike, what recharges/drains you, buy yourself books/games/flowers or anything you like, level up your skills. Remember marriage is an optional quest altogether it does not affect the main progress."  _I can not emphasize how crucial dating yourself is! Once you appreciate and enjoy your own company, you will find it very easy to enjoy someone else's company too. Many times we rely on men to get us the things that make us happy, but have you ever tried getting those things yourself and realized how refreshing it can be? 

Lately, l have fallen into the habit of buying myself alcohol, something l didn't think l would ever do but l must say it has been one of the things that changed my perspective about enjoying a drink at the comfort of your home without the thought that maybe your owe the guy the bought the beer sex. 

"Learn who you are and unlearn your conditioning. Choose friends who are not man-obsessed. Experience being single without the suffocating desire to commit and that way you learn to date for the pleasure of the company and not because you want to be in a relationship."  _Have you ever had a group of friends that were all in happy relationships and bluntly made you feel like you have failed at life for not finding a man? Ditch them, get new ones. If you ever feel like you really have to be in a relationship to be happy,  you are not dating for the right reasons. 

"Learn to give yourself an orgasm. Be able to teach that to someone else. Don't accept that the goal for sex with a man is when a man has an orgasm."  _I think this is my favorite! Very many women have made their brains believe that once a man climaxes, that's it, that's all! Heyy you are entitled to the pleasure too, it's supposed to be a two-way street. And for you to come to this realization you must have figured out what works for you, what gets you off and be able to convey your wants and desires to the other person. 

"Being financially stable. When you are able to support yourself, you no longer fantasize about being "saved" by rich guys."  _I always tell people that why am not in a relationship is because I'm not financially ready for one. Many actually laugh at me saying that if the man has the money why do you have to stress yourself. There is a fulfillment that comes with financial freedom. Once you can give yourself the things you wish a man could give you, you are not even blinded when it comes to loving someone. Money most times masquerade as love, the small and cheap things you glorified someone for, turn out insignificant when you can give them to yourself. 

"Don't make career and life decisions based on a hypothetical husband arriving. Live based on the context that you're in, cross that bridge later and find a man who will help you cross the bridges in life rather than be the obstacle you need to get around." _If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to choose between a career path and a boyfriend, don't even think twice. How do you even allow yourself to get to that point? Worst of all is when the boyfriend is even not sure that you are the one.

"Have your own life before becoming someone else's wife. Have your own home where you choose your own furniture and make your own rules. Have your own friends. Have your own long-term dreams. Just be your own whole person who has a full life."   _There are girls who move right from their parent's house to their husband's or boyfriend that later turns into a husband. How will you know how to live on your own? If anything happened to our husband, God forbid, would you move back to your parents' house again? Learning to live on your own and having your own friends and support system is one thing everyone should experience before they commit to a lifetime partner. That is how housewives fall into depression when their husbands get back to work because their husband is their entire life! They have no personal goals, passions, other friends. 

Ask yourself, would my life still be full if l never get to find a man? If the answer is no, then start on the self-discovery journey already. A man should be just the icing to the cake, the cake being your life. You should be able to get that beach house you want to live in with your husband and 3 kids even if the husband and the kids never come. 

But we will not neglect the fact that love is a beautiful thing and you deserve that beautiful thing too. 

Literal peace out!

Evolution of slang.

The internet defines slang as a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. 

Well, recently l was interacting with a seemingly young person say sixteen or something, and, as we talked she kept throwing in these words that l had to think twice about what the word actually means. She was me telling how she cribs in Nansana that she's a Nansanie, trust me I'm facepalming as l write Nansanie. 

This got me thinking about how and when l started evolving my English to slang. You probably might not have gone through it but learning these words like crib for living, gwa for a place, it was like learning how to read and write in Kindergarten! 

I remember in my F1, we were three F1s in a room of four and the other roommate of ours was in F2, the mighty to F1s because they had suffered for a year and it was time for them to shake their ass on a yacht.  Anyways, she would have her friends over and they would be jazzing with all these slang words and we would pretend not to listen to their conversations. 

In one of the first conversations they had, they talked about money in Ks and bobs and when they left the room we were asking ourselves what currency they were talking in. Trust me it was like an eye-opener, we were all in awe, like wow are these girls even Ugandan! With time we got to interact a lot with our roommate and she would tell us the meanings of the slang and before we knew it we were pros at it. 

But with slang, once you're out of a community that understands your words you realize it really doesn't have that much meaning and is embarrassing in some way. There are some words l used to use that l hear and wonder how l was comfortable using them in the first place. Plus hearing some people use some slang words and even write them in a text makes me cringe, don't nail me. 

Here are some of the slang words we were using in my school. 

Gwa - place

On che` (read as chic without the ic but e) - On point 

Kiro mo- the last night of school when you eat all your remaining grab

Goof (past tense gwaf, facepalm!) - to beat

Pheewww, l don't even remember many of them but what a time to have lived! I feel sixty whenever l hear people use such words. 

Here's a picture of Maryhill girls l found online (not that am
on it) but just imagine me in that loyal blue uniform. 

Is age really just a number?

 You probably have heard the saying that "Age is just a number" when people are trying to justify their decisions. But is it really just a number?? 

Turned 26 today, better send in your gifts, and it left me wondering whether l feel older or have I just added a number to my birth certificate. Well, there's no switch that clicks in you when you make a year, it is like any other normal day. I literary pried myself out of bed to get some work done and still don't have a penny in my purse or in my bank account! 

Looking back at the years, l could have not grown taller or bigger, am still 5'3 and struggling to get to 50 kgs since l can remember, but there are pretty much more decisions l made about 3-5 years ago that l think back to, and cringe. How was it me that made those decisions? What was wrong with me? How could l believe that was love? There are some decisions l would still make though. 

I'm not the oldest nor the wisest, but l  have come to believe that maybe age is not just a number, we need to live through these years to decern better. It may be the resilience that comes with surviving the storm of the early '20s but there's definitely a feeling you get when it clicks that you're now at the helm of the '20s. 

Forget the cultural pressure of expectations, the pressure from your more-achieving agemates, self-doubt, and everything around it. It's like watching your own life movie, you fight to be better, define your career path, see yourself open a new life chapter, for many to start a family. There's a realization you get that you sort of owe the world something, a better you, a responsible you, gosh l can't even wrap my finger around it!

Adulting is a fun, exciting, and really tough experience. 

To forging a way through these late '20s. 

Here's my official birthday picture, overgrown eyebrows are now part of me.