Dear 21st Century African Girl: Janu-worry blues!
If you’re anything like me, then by now you know that life doesn’t always turn out as you plan it. Life happens to life (and to the best of us). We can all agree that in spite of all this life must go on.
The first month of the first quarter is done. We have two more to go and undoubtedly we all have goals we had hoped to achieve, and plans to achieve so much more before the first quarter is over. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok if you haven’t achieved all you set out to yet.
When life deals you with curveballs all you can do is adjust your plan and trudge on. Keep running your race and don’t quit. Don’t give up. Keep on keeping on.
I had so many hopes and dreams that after having one of the worst third quarters in my life things would get better once the clock hit 00:00 on 2019. It didn’t happen. Change for the better is not instantaneous and we all know that. But I kept hoping against hope (and in people) that life would pick up. It hasn’t not by much.
Janu-worry came with its own stresses and by the 5th it had already hit dramatic highs I could not have anticipated. When things are out of your control all you can do sometimes is hang on for dear life and just work on staying alive.
If you are reading this, congratulations! You made it to the end of the month. No doubt month-end has come with its own pressure but keep persevering.
Applaud yourself even for the little achievements. Sometimes the progress we achieve is not the progress we expect but understand that it’s progress all the same. So cut yourself some slack.
So maybe the spiral you’ve gotten into with life is your fault, I’m here to say that that’s not the end. You can still learn from your mistakes and get up again. Your dreams are still valid. You can still make them happen. Today I read an article on Charles Bukowski, he didn’t make it as a writer until his 50s. he kept pushing but with full acceptance of who he was.
My advice to you is learn yourself, and find your soul. When you find what moves you don’t give up on it. You don’t have to go through life with dreams of grandeur, (and I’m not saying dream small here) but you can see and accept where life has gotten you and do your best to figure out what the next steps are to get you to where you need to be.
Dr Seus said, “No one is youer than you”. You know your potential and you have the vision and it’s up to make that vision a reality because no one else will. Appreciate the small steps, and build yourself up because they lead to the bigger leaps. Just don’t give up on yourself, even if the rest of the world seems to have done. Because you have to live with yourself and you spend more time with yourself than anyone one else on this earth. So remember that how you speak to yourself matters.
Work on what needs to be worked on, change what you don’t like if need be. But do accept that you have a part to play in your destiny and there’s so much to live for. You! You are who you need to live for and in turn the rest of the world takes shape around that!
Keep your head up and keep doing the things! Growth is uncomfortable but it makes for a better you so don’t resent it, (at least not so much so that you hinder the rest of your life).
All the best in the new month! May you come out better and happier!