Yelly Writes

Are we there yet?

Yelly

Success is a journey, and every single day is a beautiful mile. — Unknown

I’m going through quite an anxious period in my life. Because it feels like everything is up in the air and I don’t necessarily know which way is up. I have this list of (inspirational) quotes and, because I’m pedantic and persnickety (I also like old, interesting terms), I will go through the list, one item at a time, in order. I’m in the section of my quotes that seems to be one quote after another about success. It’s making me anxious because, what have I got to say about success? My current situation feels more like a disaster, and so far removed from success.

But okay, let’s not make this about me. Or at least, let’s try.

What is your definition of success? Some people are planners, and success is ticking off items on a list to get to the end of a project. Some people are thinkers, and success is finally arriving at a conclusion after testing ideas. Some people are creatives, and success is finally breathing life into a body of work. But all this is success in relation to productivity. For some people, there is no need to produce; success is being able to have a good day, to have a chance to laugh, to breathe, to just be.

Is it just me, or does society these days focus on having something to point to, where we say, “I made that!” It just feels like we’re on this perpetual hamster wheel of production. It feels like everything has become a commodity and the measure of success relates to a list of assets, and in order to build that list, one has to either produce or acquire.

I enjoy pace and I enjoy the challenge of finding solutions right away. I know I can sprint along with the best of them. But lately, I’ve been feeling exhausted. I’ve been questioning the constant need to chase…everything. Maybe this is why I feel so lost, so disconnected. Maybe I’m missing being able to have time and space. Because while I know I can do things quickly and efficiently, I like to be able to process, at a pace that is my own, in an environment that is less frenzied and frantic. But when success is only measured by what you can show for yourself, the journey — the wrestling, the questioning, the becoming — gets dismissed as inefficiency. But that part of the journey is where the real work happens.

Have we forgotten to appreciate the time it takes to travel? Have we forgotten that the journey isn’t just merely arriving at the destination? Have we forgotten that it’s the experiences between departure and arrival that make the journey? That’s where the lessons are learned. That’s where the memories are made. That’s where the experience is created, where expertise is gained. Because while you have a destination in mind, the things that happen in between change where you get to.

Yelly Writes

Tomorrow is NOT a threat!

Yelly

Tomorrow is not a threat. It is a promise.— Unknown

I’ve been going through a really anxious period in my life, filled with uncertainty. I’ve been vacillating between feeling convicted that I’m doing the right thing, and then doubting my decision to put myself (my health and my self-advocacy) first. I’ve not been sleeping. I think my subconscious has been dreading the future because there is so much uncertainty about it, and it has been preventing my brain from switching off and resting, thinking there is danger when I get to tomorrow.

When you are a person who lives with anxiety, the future is something that is an unknown space where anything and everything can (and if your anxiety is to be believed) and will go wrong. But that’s the thing. Tomorrow, the future, is unknown. So while there is the possibility that things could go wrong, there is also the equal possibility that things could go VERY right.

Maybe that’s the reframe that needs to happen: tomorrow, the future, IS NOT a guarantee of danger. There is every chance that things could go very right. Maybe that possibility is the best thing to hold on to.

Yelly Writes

How do you…?

Yelly

Whenever I work on something, I start with the WHY. Because things start with intent, why I’m working on what I’m working on.

In an ideal world, once I know my whys and my whats, I’ll figure out the hows, whens and the how much’s. So there’s a need to identify the required information so I can finish my project, and then I fact-check it to make sure the information is current.

Then I organise the information I have into a sane, pragmatic, see-everything-at-a-glance pattern so I can bring everything together and finish what I started.

In the case of my AI workbook, I used post-its. Post-its are so useful for working things out, and not just making sure you remember your to-do’s.

What’s your workflow?

@yellywelly

Yelly Writes

Yellycups

Yelly

A man who can’t bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them.

— Stephen King

I’m sharing a re-established habit.

I used to post pictures of my cups with quotes and my random thoughts daily in my stories on Instagram. I did it every single day for nearly 3 years! It helped me start my day with inspiration, motivation, and if anything, I got my whinge out for the day.

I stopped doing that for a while. I’m not sure why. Maybe because life was busy, because all I kept doing was whinge about how busy my work was, because…I’m really not sure why I stopped, but I did. And it did feel like something was lost.

So I’ve started it up again. Posting a morning cup post and an evening cup post. To set up my day, and to close the circle in the evening. It’s helping. Somehow. I’ve created a dedicated page to my cups (I found a typo and I can’t unsee it. But because it’s a posted p

I’m hoping it’ll help someone else too.

Have a look at @yellycups on Instagram.

@yellycups
Yelly Writes

I finished my AI Workbook!

Yelly

I’ve been quietly working on something on the side for a while now. It’s taken quite a while to get it to where it is (mostly because I kept starting, restarting, editing, red-penning it to hell). But I finally shared it on LinkedIn! 👀 So what did I do?

I created the 28 Day AI Challenge Workbook — a structured, printable workbook that walks you through 28 AI tools across 4 weeks, one tool at a time. No jargon. No coding. No assuming you already know what any of it means. AI kind of intimidated me. Everyone around me seemed to be talking about it like it was the most natural thing in the world and I was just… nodding along. I didn’t want to admit I had no idea where to actually start.

So I decided to do something about it. I wanted it to be an honest, practical guidance and hands-on exercises that help you actually get to grips with AI rather than just reading about it.

It covers everything from ChatGPT and Claude to image generation, video tools, automation and beyond — and it’s written for people like me. People who are curious but have been putting it off. EAs, PAs, admin professionals, anyone in a busy office role who suspects AI could genuinely save them time but doesn’t know where to begin.

I’m really proud of this one. It started as a personal project to stop feeling so daunted by AI and it turned into something I genuinely think could help a lot of people. Also, I had fun using post-its to map out my process and decide what I wanted to include in it!

It’s available now as a digital download.

Please would you help me by buying it? I would really appreciate it! The link to get it is below!👇

yaelmedina.gumroad.com/l/ecobqd

Yelly Writes

Uphill climbs and pivot points

Yelly
by @yellywelly

Sometimes you climb the mountain, and you fall and fail. Maybe there is a different path that will take you up.
— Unknown

I’ve been struggling lately. I’ve been struggling to find the motivation. Mostly, it’s because I feel like I’ve been subjected to repeated, unreasonable behaviour from someone that is intimidating and degrading and is ultimately undermining my confidence in my ability to trust my own judgement. I used to give this person the benefit of the doubt because I thought no one could be that unaware of what they were doing to someone else. One day, though, I received something in writing that made it impossible for me to discount the idea that they knew exactly what they were doing. Now I no longer feel I can give this person grace, space or the benefit of the doubt. The daily threat of experiencing this is harming my psychological stability. 

So now I need to find the pivot for this situation. But it feels like I’m wedged between a rock and a hard place, and the only choice is to extricate myself.

Yelly Writes

Possibility vs desirability

Yelly

Just thinking out loud.

It’s a free country and we’re all allowed the civil liberties that people living in democratic societies have the privilege of enjoying…and taking for granted. We go about our days doing what we want, saying what we want, to a certain extent, acquiring what we want. We live in a society where we can own what we want. 

What we forget is that ownership comes with accountability. We are responsible for what we have. We need to care for what we have. We are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance, and ultimately the survival of the things we have: things, property, machines, responsibilities, relationships, etc.

In the same vein, we own what comes from us: our creations, the work we do, the things we say, our actions, how we affect others, how we treat ourselves. We forget that while it is a free world and we can do what we want, when we want, how we want to do it, the guardrail is that we need to ask ourselves the question: should you do it just because you can? Just because it is possible, does it make it desirable? And as an extension, just because you want it, should you have it? 

In this world of hyper consumerism and hyper consumption, have we lost the ability to determine the difference between want and need?

Yelly Writes

Love is in the small things

Yelly

Love and its expressions are so individual. Some use words. Some use action. It is as individual and unique as the person expressing it. There are different depths, different intensities, different levels, different kinds of love.

I’ve come to realise that love is in the small things. It’s in the way they say I’m thinking of you without saying it out loud. It’s in the small considerations. It’s in the small inconveniences they allow because you matter more to them than the disregulation they’ll feel. It’s in the small, fleeting touches, the side looks, in the involuntary smiles. It’s in the way they let you see them and their vulnerabilities. It’s in the small but dependable, almost habitual consistency. It’s how they are present for you, and not just by being there physically.

I am not, by any means, discounting the showy outpouring expressions of love. Yes, love is also in the grand gestures, in the wonderful, audible proclamations, the generous gift-giving, and the opening-of-the-floodgates intensity of expression. While the out-loud expressions can be performative because of societal expectations, there are the small, telltale signs that there was thought in the actions, and that you were the sole focus of the action.

When you are truly loved, you know. You feel it.

Love begets love. You need to trust that it does. Because it will.

@yellywelly
Yelly Writes

Time and presence

Yelly

“It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping.” – John Sinor

One of my favourite memories of my Abba was when we went on a “date” to SM Cubao when I was six years old. We went there so that he could buy me “big girl shoes”. They were basically shoes without straps and buckles. I think, in hindsight, that started my lifelong love affair with ballet flats — but that’s another story! It was a wonderful day. We got my shoes, my Abba taught me how to fit shoes (and to insist on it) so I could buy the right sized ones, we went to Shakey’s to get pizza, rootbeer and a milkshake (making sure to wash everything down with room temperature water so I wouldn’t get tonsilitis).

I am thankful I have memories of dates with my father. Even when I miss him terribly when I recall them, I am thankful for all the memories. It’s not that he bought me things (although I remember loving those shoes!), it was that we spent time together, that he made time for just us. I know both my siblings have solo date memories with our beloved Abbadabbadoo that they hold dear. The gift of time and presence is so precious. I am so very blessed that our Abba gave us that.

I know not everyone celebrates Father’s Day, for a multitude of reasons. But, if you are able to do so, if that is the kind of relationship you have with your father, hug him especially tight today. You don’t know how much time you have left with him to store up those memories.

Father's Day
Yelly Writes

The True Love Test

Yelly

So I watched The Life List on Netflix again, and, of course, I bawled like a baby! I promise no spoilers, especially if you haven’t seen it. It’s the kind of girly romance movie that presents an idealized, pre-packaged view of love and romantic relationships. I’m not a cynic, not by a long shot (I’ve read too many Julia Quinn novels several times over to be jaded), to be cynical about love, even after the implosion of a relationship that I thought would last forever. I do sometimes smirk at the sugar coma sweetness of the Hallmark Channel formula movies. But the “true love test” in the movie had me thinking. In the film, it said that if you could answer yes to each of the 4 questions below, it was TRUE LOVE. 

1  Are they kind?

2 Can you tell them everything that’s in your heart?

3 Do they help you become the best version of yourself? 

4 Can you imagine them as the father/mother of your children? 

The questions make me smile. Because I can hear myself saying to someone at 25, “Love isn’t just a feeling, it’s a decision.” and seeing their look of confusion (in hindsight, that should’ve been a red flag, but I ignored it) and me patiently explaining what I meant.

Love is a decision. It’s a commitment. Because you decide, for better or for worse (whether it involves the permanency of marriage or not), to love this person, in the good and bad days, when tempers flare and patience wanes, when the sickness is disgusting, when the ick is hard to shift and when disagreements happen. It’s a commitment to stay and work things out, even when things get tough, damnedly uncomfortable and when they don’t particularly look rosy. It’s a promise to stay. It’s a vow to work on improving, changing for the better, and growing together. It’s saying “I got you” to this person and really having them, making sure they know you have them. It’s a pledge to stay accountable to this person. It is an unwritten but very binding contract to work through the warts, farts and smarts that come with adult relationships.

Being loved is an intrinsic need because it encapsulates affection, respect, acceptance, protection, and accountability. Every person has a deep-seated need for it, whether they care to admit it. Love isn’t easy but if you have it, wouldn’t you want to hold on to it, nurture it and cultivate it?

@yellywelly