2014: The Brand New me!

A lot of things happened in my life last year that will forever change me.  All these things left an indelible mark on me and I’d want to share a few of those changes with you:

•  I grew a year older: age ** will forever change me.  I needed to turn ** to be able to move on to my new age.  Birthdays come and go...in fact, they have become an annual affair (?*!!), yeah, as if.  One of the things that dawned on me last year was that, I am not getting any younger and it is necessary to evaluate where I am at any point in my life against where I should be going.  If you have a life plan (and please get one if you don’t) it is important to always check to make sure you’re on course.  A lot of the decisions I made last year was based on this evaluation and the fact that I realized I had gone off track. 
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• I downloaded (?**!!) a new baby:  last March Nana and I welcomed Jedidiah into this world.  It was a very happy but humbling experience.  Really, God has been good to us!  Apart from the lesson of experiencing the faithfulness of God in our lives, Jeddy has been an education in life and living it to the both of us.  Jeddy has taught me that everyone is unique and different and should be treated as such.  What worked for Jujay (our first son) does not always work for Jeddy!  The young man has taught me to treat each and every one that I come in touch with differently and he continues to teach me to accept people for who they are.
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•  I quit my job:  after eight years of working in the same place, quitting my job was more difficult that leaving home.  IDEG had taught me a lot of things and influenced to a very large extent the person I have become.  The decision to make this move was largely influenced by evaluating myself against my goals.  I needed to move, so I could get to the next stage in my life.  To most people, it didn’t make sense in the light of everything else that was going on, but in the bigger scheme of things, it was imperative that I got out of my comfort zone and chart new waters. 
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• I started a new job:  after eight years of being at the same place, starting a new job was an experience.  Meeting new people, fitting myself into a new organization and changing the way I do things has been tough.  Being the person I am, I didn’t care much about whether or not people liked me in my new place, what was disconcerting was not being able to do things the way I had gotten used to.  Now, giving people at least six months learning curve makes a lot more sense than it used to.  I’m still adjusting, and it is a great learning experience.
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• I went back to school:  last year, I decided that for me to move to the next level, there are things I needed to learn afresh, new skills I needed to acquire and new networks I needed to build.  Some have called me crazy and in fact sometimes I think I am.  With two kids (one, a baby), a new job, working on the opposite side of town and everything else happening in my life, I’m wondering whether I’m not crazy.  However, a good friend recently reiterated the fact that you can’t give what you don’t have.  If I want to achieve my goals, then I have to learn new things…so there!

Lessons from 2013 experiences:

Based on the above experiences, these are the things I’ve learnt:

• You will grow!  Have goals for your life and keep on evaluating and re-evaluating where you are.  You need that to move forward!
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• Have babies… Don’t treat people wholesale!  Everyone is different, acknowledge the differences and see the best in them.  Everyone has a good side!
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• Be prepared to take the tough decisions.  Don’t stay in your comfort zone; you don’t make much progress by doing that.  If you need to quit and start afresh do so, it’s better to do so now!
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• Start new things, even if it means you have to start afresh!  Its better late than never!  Keep learning…until you die there are always new things to be learnt…in an academic situation, in the school of life or even in the school of the hard knocks!!

My 2014 resolutions:

NONE!!!

Seriously, I’m not making any resolutions this year.  I’m just praying for life.  The rest is to resign myself to God’s direction on a large dose of faith as I make my way towards my life purpose.  Do you know yours?