Ever since my last post (yes, I know it’s been a while) I’ve been more conscious of reframing and how quickly it can change our perceptions.
Chatting to my lovely – and brave – friend Puja over lunch the other week we started casually deconstructing her life from different linguistic points of view, and she agreed to let me write up two versions of her to illustrate the point some more.
My last post was very much about my interior framing. Thinking about someone else made me reflect more on public ‘framing’, whether through social or traditional media – so I give you ‘Party-girl Puj’:
Bitchy to me at school until she discovered my usefulness for homework, Puj went on to study PPE at York, predictably becoming a Lib Dem apparatchik. Not sticking around long enough to see them in power, Puj became a PR girl – notable achievement: hugging Sting. She went on to reconcile her love of schmoozing with her conscience by working for charidee, but still cultivates contacts with expense accounts, and is sometimes found falling out of Westminster bars. Not working at present, she’ll probably ‘do something’ behind the scenes in the forthcoming election. She spends her downtime at her second home in the South of France, and is currently planning a future birthday – on a yacht, dahling, of course.
In contrast, we have my friend, wonder woman Puja:
Grown-up enough at school to realise there were more things uniting us than dividing us, and brave enough to change in response to that insight, Puja became one of my lifelong best friends. She overcame obstacles to do well academically, but what’s really carried her forward is her wonderful, gregarious charm, combined with a pragmatic idealism that’s seen her consistently undertake charitable work at home and abroad from school onwards. Her combined interests in politics, charity and International Development have been pursued with determination and consistency throughout her life, studies and career, most recently as a Director of a national charity (balancing this with being a great mother of two). Always bold, I have learned a lot and had so much fun in her wake, from attending my first political march and supporting a charity stall involving bananas (don’t ask), to hanging out on french beaches, Desperados in hand (still setting ourselves and the world to rights, of course).
Use your words wisely out there…
lowkeyhighflyer 