Maudeline Plum Media

29/01/2023

Sometimes I sneak a little treat after I've met the morning's health goals. Sunday is a great day for treat sneaking.

The sky is mixed with slow-falling, nearly invisible flakes — but when you look hard enough, there's plenty to see. It's blistering cold outside. Cold enough to keep me bundled in blankets with a book in my hand and an occasional momentary snooze between the pages. Poor Nelly will miss her hike today, but I haven't told her that yet. I think keeping her sidetracked with homemade chicken noodle soup in the (very) slow cooker will pass the time well enough.

I appreciate that I'm healthy overall, but it wasn't without its battles. For several years now, I've taken care to eat the right amounts of protein, moderate carbs, and some fat. Especially butter — which I appreciate on most things, and I justify it by pretending I "feel" the K2 vitamin load entering my system with each melted slog of it. But I don't care too much. I don't actually measure, though I said the "right amount" earlier. I just do what feels good and recognize when it feels terrible, so I avoid that (or try, fingers crossed).

But the treat I mentioned earlier had a strange side effect. I had a couple of dark chocolate-covered almonds, then a swig of diet coke. (I know. Don't remind me. It's a treat). The combination immediately brought back memories of that candy — do you remember it? "Bottle Caps," I think it was called. A chalky, small, rounded, tart-like candy that looked like the top of a glass soda pop bottle.

It flooded my head with this entirely long and strange stream of consciousness. I won't go into the entire trip, but I pictured a boardroom of mad men trying to figure out how to create a desire for soda at an early age.

At the time, it was heavenly to sneak off to the gas station on the other side of the neighborhood and buy a packet of Bottle Caps (and candy ci******es, and those popping candies - what were they called again? Oh! Pop Rocks! That's the one). I liked 7-Up or A&W Rootbeer (because it had that frosty mug taste — and I liked holding the can as they did in the ads — as if I were holding a frosty mug of beer).

The choices of sugar were immense back then. More so today, I suspect, for kids. I think commercialism will change in the future, though. I think the days in the height of collecting just to collect may be over, and people are sick from so much sugar. I don't see another avenue, to be honest. Besides, our Earth cannot afford to continue down this path. We can temper our greed if we find something else to obsess over. I really believe that (and have one solution, but it's part of a book I'm writing, so I won't share it here). However, I guarantee a fight with anyone who wants things to remain the same forever. Sure, I'd love that, too, if we had unlimited resources and a planetary dumping ground system that didn't involve the Earth and its affected creatures.

But this wasn't meant to be a reminder of troubled times ahead. Really... just a memory of the flavor (in particular, the cola flavor) of those Bottle Caps. I think kids back then would be healthier today if we weren't so spoiled for choice. I wonder why sugar and kids go together so seamlessly. I imagine it being like Santa Claus. Here, kids, are your introductions to a very complex world. Let's introduce you slowly so you're unaware of the reality too soon. Well... that and a processed food addiction that guarantees corporate food innovation for generations to come. Delicious.

I'd kind of like a pack of them now.

15/01/2023

Being brave means jumping in and doing the things you’re most passionate about while silencing that harsh voice that tells you that you can’t. 🙌

So make a list of small things that’ll ready you to do this thing.
👉 Add time. Start with an hour.
👉 Add materials. Start with what you have, even if they’re wrong. Nobody is looking.
👉 Add innocence. Oh, how we’re trained to be perfect — and oh, how damaging that has become for our spirits! Celebrate the young one inside; after all, it’s that one that took your first steps and learned to communicate… tasted your first porridge. 🥣 Delicious! That one did things -simply- to do them. Unabashedly. 👶

Happy creating!

09/01/2023

Those of you who know me well, know that I support mental health... especially when it involves aging and loneliness. 🥺

But the truth is, even young people feel lonely at an unprecedented rate these days. 😱

I love that the issue is starting to come to light in places around the world. What can we do in our neighborhoods to help or offer support? 🤗

Maudeline Plum Media 🖥

Jumbo, the Dutch supermarket chain, introduced slow checkouts when it discovered some people enjoy chatting while paying for their goods.The added personal touch is helping many people, especially the elderly, deal with loneliness. The move has proven so successful that Jumbo has installed the slow checkouts in 200 stores. 🥰

07/01/2023

As you scroll through social media and hear that inner voice telling you you're not good enough, stop scrolling for a minute. ✋

You can step outside of yourself and make a desperately needed correction. Because that inner voice telling you negative things, berating you, or making you feel sick isn't actually you. It's a voice conditioned through negative emotions that builds because it's expected to build based on hurt feelings. 😳

You can make changes, and you should. For, after all, you wouldn't ever say some of the things you do to yourself to a friend you cared about, right? It wouldn't be fair to them, and you wouldn't be a friend if you did. 🙅‍♀️

So when that voice chimes in, be an observer instead. Notice when it's happening and let the observer change the dialogue on the spot. 🧘‍♀️

Imagine you as you would your friend, or even better, you when you were so tiny and innocent. Instead of hurling insults at that little, sweet baby, you tell them that they are loved, that you forgive their mistakes, and that you hold them sweetly in your mind. 👼

There's so much anger, negativity, and destruction in the world. Change begins with you. Your outlook changes when you cradle that inner you and say kinder things. 🌸

As a social media manager, I choose to inspire rather than create chaos. So today, in preparation for that awful inner voice, you can make a choice too. First, remind that voice that you care about the person it's belittling, and then select the first thing you'll say to offer yourself the beautiful gift of love. Then the second thing. And when you've time, make a list because you can grow to be your own best friend.👯‍♀️

Change your world by changing your voice. 🌷

31/12/2022

Here's to 2023! 🥂

Here are wishes for better year to come to us all! 🙏

Here's to turning things around. ↺

Here's to being heard and seen. 🤩

Here's to making things easier and dreaming our collective (and positive) dreams. ⛅️

May the blessings of the new year rest its warm shawl upon our shoulders and feed us the most nourishing soup for our souls! 🍲

Cheers to you and all you hold dear! 💞

Happy New Year! 🎉

Maudeline Plum Media 🌸

22/10/2022

Boo!

08/10/2022

Art.
Because it's your business.

Maudeline Plum Media

23/07/2022

Dear Businesses,

Though it is merely July, far too early to be thinking about the winter holidays (in most minds), it is actually time for you to consider your multiple-holiday strategy. 🎄🕯

How will you bring your audience into the joy of the season? 🕍

How will you open your doors to them during the crispness of the fall? 🍁🎃

How will you give thanks to them and share what's on your table for
your glorious Thanksgiving? 🦃

Will you burn a virtual yule log and share in the warm glow of holiday lights at Christmas time?🔥🕯

If you make one wish, and that wish is to celebrate the holidays by having personal time while someone else conquers online time, then let's talk.📞

I have room for only one new account at the moment.🆕

Will you grab it? Do let me know.

Sincerely yours,
Maudeline Plum 💜

06/07/2022

[NOTE: This is a sampling of a post for a diabetes/weight loss clinic that I wrote yesterday. One of the biggest challenges is helping people who feel that they are not able to change. I write posts that are educational, entertaining, but especially hopeful for this page. My job as a social media manager is to keep them heart-chorded to the clinic so that they feel they have an ally when they need it, and the clinic, indeed, is an ally to them. I am merely the go-between and I take that role very seriously. My favorite thing to do is to help and inspire. So below, here is an inspirational post to help those patients who need it].

******
Today we celebrate those who fail.
Those who have run the gauntlet, perhaps several times.
Those whose experiences wear on them like broken, delicate pages of an ancient text.

But those who rise again to greet the day.

"You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?“

— Friedrich Nietzsche
Book: Thus Spoke Zarathustra
(One of my favorites).

*****

That awful voice in your head that tells you you're not doing it right, you've messed up, you've failed, you're sloppy, you're not worthy — always arrives at the wrong time. Can you relate?

When you're at your most down, the disappointment can turn into self-loathing. The key is — don't offer it a chair in your living room. Instead, kick it to the curb.

The truth is, we all fail. Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Fail.

That is part of life and part of growth. The blessings of failings lead us in new directions that we'd likely never have known but become a beautiful part of who we are.

Failings show us that we tried something, and it didn't work. It gives us a choice, do we rise above this failing, find a better way, and try again? Or is this something to redirect and go an entirely different route?

Choices mean you are free. Free to do better, be better, feel better — and not because of what others think about you, but because you want to be a better you. It's nobody else's business where you fail and how you rise. That, my dears, is your journey of discovery, and I implore that you take it with as much strength as you can muster, but more importantly, with as much love for yourself, your choices, and your journey as you can muster.

Rise from the ashes, look around, make a decision that may be right or wrong, and move ahead to the next lesson.

Whatever it may be, we're on your side.
MPM

02/07/2022

Sometimes life calls for a little breath of fresh air. 🌬

Working to create a service business is intense. My goal is to make this company the best I can make it, and my personal standards are high.

But I feel like I’m already flying.🧚‍♀️

I have several reasons for wanting this to be the best. Deep inside my heart, another kind of service is needed, and I can’t get there until Maudeline Plum Media is on solid ground first. Though I have been doing successful social media work before, this company is just **days** old. However, I already know it will do great things.
When you combine these things:
1) Thirty years of successful small business ownership in the service and retail industry
2) An end degree MFA in creative writing
3) A digital artist.
Well, it's highly unusual and exceptionally ideal for where this company is headed. Think about a voice like that telling your story to an audience.
A rare gem, indeed.

There is something that the world desperately needs. That Idaho desperately needs. That people in my neighborhood need. I see it, and I will SEE TO IT that I will help. And I will, in time, and it will be a charitable branch of Maudeline Plum Media.

It’s hard for me not to jump the gun because (you know how it is) when you want to help, you want to do it now.

But soon, I tell myself once more. Soon.

In the meantime, I’ll wrap the idea in a pretty little package. Then, I’ll open it up once in a while, work on it, and tie it back together until I can do more.🎁

30/06/2022

So what, exactly, does a social media manager do? 🤷‍♂️

Well... hmmm... every social media management company is different. 😳

The gist is... a social media manager takes care of social media for a business, person, entity, group, artist, or anyone that is too busy or doesn't have the skillset to do it themselves.

Social media is constantly changing (chronically changing). If the algorithms don't get to you (and they do), there's always something else:
New ways to post.
Updates to the system.
Analytics,
Engagement.
Content (what do you want to tell your people?).
Etc. (and it's a BIG etc.).

Essentially, what we do at Maudeline Plum Media is bring people into your social living room (or waiting room). We sit them down and make them feel comfortable. We offer them a virtual cup of coffee (so to speak). We educate them about your mission. We delight them with engaging content: perhaps we crack them up, inspire them, help them, or introduce them to new ideas. Likely it's all of the above. But primarily, we help them get to know you better.

Each management package at Maudeline Plum Media is different. Along with that, there are other choices that you can pick and choose from that are either included in the packages or selected as an add-on service. We talk about the details when we talk.📞

There are (truthfully) too many busy-body services to list, which is precisely why you need a professional social media manager to help. Aren't you busy with something else right now? Go on... go do it... 'cause we've got this.💪