Petra Aba Asamoah

Petra Aba Asamoah

2/27/2025, 6:31:15 PM

Unfinished business from 2024 😁 I made a committment to you to share the books I was reading and I was going to share at least 12 books. Well, I stopped at 10. So here’s book number 11, I read it in November but didn’t get around to posting my review. The original plan was for me review it at the launch but I lost someone I love in December and just didn’t have the energy to do any public speaking since. Similarly it’s taken me a while to start writing. I’ve slowly found my way back to reading and writing so here’s the review of #Book11of12For2024. I’ll continue the count to 24. Book Title: Between A Rock and Hard Place by Terry Mante. I first listened to the book using the content speak feature on my phone. It’s a fifty-one page book so I was able to complete it on my 18KM commute to work. Terry sent me a PDF before I got the hard copy. When I received it, I read it again. It’s a book you can complete in one sitting. There are five chapters and the first chapter opens up with Robert Frost’s 1915 poem - “The Road Not Taken”. The peom’s essence was my biggest take away from the book. It ends with the lines, “Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less travelled and that has made all the difference”. Terry’s book is about decision making. By starting with a poem as old as Robert Frost’s, Terry piqued my interest. Poetry is my genre of “initiation”. In Chapter 2, the author poses a deep existential question “do human beings have a destiny?” For a moment, my mind went back to my Philosphy class from my undergrad years but the author quickly jettisoned me out of there and answered the question with a cogent argument from the Christian Bible. He quotes Genesis 1:26-28 capturing the “dominion mandate”. His conclusion? Destiny is a matter of choice. The author is a business consultant and his style of writing reflects this. He uses case studies to drive home his ideas, drawing from both the Christian Bible and contemporary examples like Oprah, Mandela and Apple. He signed off with a charge to his readers “may our choices build a future marked by resilence, purpose and lasting impact” No, I cannot spill all the juice. You should get a copy. I’m currently reading a 537 page book 😅that Kwaku Edem Damanka (MPhil HR) gifted me - “A Lineage of Grace” by Francine Rivers. What are you reading? #ReadingWithRocky #Book11of24

Petra Aba Asamoah

3/1/2025, 6:58:45 AM

Day 60 - 1st March 2025 I spent some hours with my very first boss this past week, 23 years after I left her employ. She’s the founder of the nursery school (it is no longer just a nursery school, it has grown in leaps and bounds) I taught in right after high school. News flash: I taught in a nursery school for nine months before I gained admission into the University of Ghana. I’ve written about her and that first teaching experience in the introduction of my next book (stay with me on that). I was a co-teacher to a class of 4 year olds 😅 and the best part of my day was the end of the day when I was heading home 😂…it was no easy task but I loved my students and I was happy to have a job. My meeting with her was warm, relaxed, friendly, we laughed a lot and she shared with me some of the developments in the school. She’s built the school organically over a period of 32 years. We reminisced some of my favorite moments when I was there and I was awed by how different the infrastructure was. I remember walking away from that job so excited that I was heading to school and won’t be back! Because even though I loved the cash and the free lunch and the free ride to work most days (she used to pick me up…yes I was specially privileged 😁😁), and my kind boss and wonderful colleagues, it was hard work managing toddlers. But I did it for 9 months and now I’m happy I did! I did it with my best self. I didn’t complain about the headaches at the end of the day or the extreme fatigue I felt when I got home. Whew! That was like having more than one of my almost-4year old son in one room and I was managing all of them at the same time! I formed a great bond with the other teachers and helped them do all the extra stuff they needed to do…I was also the reading teacher, using picture cards to teach the children how to read. And guess what? All of that helped build my work ethic, my character and has brought me to this point I am now. Today, I proudly say, I am a good teacher even though my first teaching job was hard, it set the tone for everything else. You may be doing something now that you feel is too hard and you want to get away from it. I now have the benefit of hindsight and so let me make a suggestion to you, look at it as a stepping stone in your journey. Picture it as a piece in a bigger picture and give it your best. It will all make sense eventually. Happy new month! 📸February 2024. First mentoring event with cohort 1. Bernard Brown Snr shot what I consider a beautiful picture of a teacher 😁

Petra Aba Asamoah

2/22/2025, 8:44:08 PM

Hey! It’s been a minute. I hope you’re well