Newness, New Beginnings, Newthings were some of the few dominating themes for 2018. The notion of starting yet another journey of a year is always refreshing to human nature though in actual sense nothing really changes except for a change in calendar dates. As usual, i had high expectations of myself and undoubtedly took time off to pen down some few things as blueprint or resolution as many will call it. Quite frankly, amidst all the prophetic declaration I still couldn’t phantom how to begin this baby of a year called 2018.But all too soon, the year 2018 has registered it self in the annals of history. To others, it seems the days within 2018 were in some kind of relay race. I can relate to the sentiment of many, that the days galloped faster than anticipated. But on the contrary, I also disagree on the premise that the previous years had always been the same perhaps we are now taking note.
Over this period of 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525600 minutes and 31,536,000 seconds, life has taught me a number of valuable lessons which I deem necessary to share with you my cherished reader. I don’t expect you to agree with me on every point because our experience and our perspective may vary. This piece might be a bit lengthy but trust me, it will worth your while.
1. TIME HEALS
Time is neither a doctor or nurse but time truly heals. it may sound absurd but time has away of bringing recovery even in the most painful situations. Reflecting on my experiences, I can say that healing is a process and process usually requires time.
2. NEW MINDSET
Reading from the account of Jesus in Luke 5-36, i noticed what actually brings an impact is the new ways of processing already existing information. In actual sense there is nothing new under the sun. Cultivating a new mindset meant consciously doing away with old ways whiles taking a bold new step into uncharted paths. For me, it was learning the discipline of writing, listening, attending certain kind of event, reading, pursing my passion which hitherto I had ignored.
3. KNOW YOUR SEASON.
Seasons and times are principles we need to understand if we are to make informed decisions. Stepping into the real world to do my national service as a budding architect meant I had entered into another space of life where my working cycle in the building industry has begun. To others it may be marriage, starting a business or even starting life in a different country. These key happenings give us clues of the seasons we find ourselves and what we must do to survive.
4. KNOW YOUR HIGH
In life, i have realized that everyone has his or her high moments. By high, i mean that particular thing, event or moment when one loses sight of worries. It is that time we can say we float on cloud nine. To some music does the trick, to others movies , nature , parting , swimming etc. what's your high?
5. KNOW WHEN NOT TO FIGHT.
It is not every fight that you have to fight for yourself. Sometimes God has a way of making others fight on your behalf. I recount a troski moment where the driver parked to get some few passengers onboard at a bus stop and out of know where a guy just appears slum banging the gate so hard that it could have hurt the conductor badly. Everyone felt the driver and conductor should confront this guy but yet again out of no where another guy appears having witnessed the incidence, he spoke these words “Leave this fight for me and go”. This made me understand that God has a way of fighting for us.
6. FREEDOM IS RESPONSIBILITY
According to Jim Carlvez ( passion of Christ fame ) freedom exist not to do what you want but to have the right to do what you ought to do. As young adults, sometimes freedom is interpreted to mean on can do whatever he or she wants but I have come to realize over these few months of gaining my independence that freedom means absolute responsibility.
7. LEARN TO KNOW YOURSELF
Knowing yourself is a life long journey however it pays to pay attention to understand what we are made of. I realized as humans, we know a lot about many things part form ourselves. You can start by asking yourself these few questions, what am I mostly drawn to? What genre of music do I like best? Which places do I like to be etc.
8. MORE TO LEARN
As i got out university, contrary to what i thought, my crave for knowledge has increased. I noticed I don’t know a lot of things as I ought to. In fact to be brutally honestly I feel there is a lot more to learn from human behavior to emotional intelligence , personality traits, politics , nature etc.
9. STUDY THE OPPOSITE SEX.
When it comes to the matters of relating to the opposite sex, a lot of factors comes into play. As a young guy I have had my first share of mistakes due to failure to understand how to relate to ladies. This is a daunting task that may not come easy however I believe every guy must learn the opposite sex. Understanding the nature and frame of ladies to some extent goes a long way to make our relationship much healthier.
10. MISTAKES ARE ACHIEVEMENT
Mistakes sometimes are blessings in disguise. It’s like a crossroad that helps you reposition yourself to get things right. Every human makes mistakes but what I have learnt is to minimize or possibly avoid as many mistakes as possible.
11. OWN YOUR HAPPINESS
Our happiness in life is not dependent on anybody. I believe each one is specially built to have a level of self dependency to create the environment that makes him or her happy.
12. BE THANKFUL
I have noticed that in life there will always be somethings that you will lack and if this is not managed properly you end up being jealous of others. The antidote is to appreciate what you have. In reality there are more than a billion reasons to be thankful even having life and the brain to read this is just something to thank God because others lack this ability.
13. TAKE A STEP.
The mother of faith is action and action produces results. I was once in my comfort zone until i decided to take a step of faith. In 2017, i visited Rwanda a country i have longed to visit but unfortunate i had many terrible encounters that could have discouraged me. Looking back at that experience i am grateful i took that step because it paved a way for me to start an initiative called Hojja Africa which connects the youth and young businesses to economic opportunities on the continent of Africa.
14. NEVER LOSE HOPE
Now faith , love and hope abides….. I believe there is a strong reason "hope" was mentioned in the scripture above. My experience in the land of thousand hills gave me an understanding of what it means to hope again. A lot of us know their devastating past but how many of us understand the secret of their recovery. The element of hope is what fueled their passion to rebuild their nation.
15. PATIENT
Patient they say is a virtue but in this day and age, can we as youth boast of this virtue? When i was growing up as a young boy, we were taught to exercise patience whenever we desired to have something. Honestly, i hated it for many childish reasons but growing up has taught me that it pays to learn how to wait for the right time.
16. MENTORSHIP
So before I started the year 2018, I as wondering why I don’t seem to make headway despite being endowed with quiet a number of talents and ideas. It then occurred to me that all high achievers had, coaches, mentors, trainers etc., to shape and guide them to higher heights. With this mindset I took advantage of Mrs. Patricia Larkai’s free coaching class that sometimes came in free. Since i haven’t been coached before i struggled a few times however am glad i took that bold step to humble myself to be coached. In following her, I got to learn form her two books (Untangling the tongue and Fabulous, Flamboyant and Fearless) not forgetting her mentor Mrs. Dziborgzi K. Dorsoo whose Blueprint series on Dzibordi Tv (YouTube) is helping shape my life as well.
17. HIGH PURPOSE
A number of times in my life, I have heard the phrase "purpose driven life" and also the saying “where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable" by the late Myles Munroe. Watching the World of Dance series and Fabulous Four music show taught me what it meant to live for a higher purpose. As i watch both series first the dance, I noticed the groups that triumphed to the finals were those who had a strong foundation for forming those groups. It was not only about just dancing. To them, they used dance as a tool (either therapeutic or as a social intervention mechanism) and the competition as the platform to echo to the world their plight and how they are overcoming it. Sometimes I was overwhelmed with the depth of passion they exhibited as they danced. A few times i was moved to cry after seeing the likes of Rlab depicting the recent happenings of war in their performance. For the music show, Shara J an original member of the selected four – member crew caught my attention. She battled her way through to the finals to be second in the competition despite suffering from cancer. As a fierce rapper she wasn’t only battling people for a spot but rather for her life. These reality shows left an imprint on my mind and made me believe that to last long in any endeavor it must be driven by a higher purpose.
18. BUILD A NETWORK
I once read that network is not all about who you know but rather the inverse. In this 21st century and even in the past times, who knows you has always been the norm. In life, it takes a fellow man, friend, course-mates, church fellow etc. to put in a word for you to receive your breakthrough. In 2018, I got my first opportunity to be trained in the Creative Enterprise Programme through a friend who knew my passion and the right platform to connect me to.
To conclude, I get stunned when I look back at my life a year ago. Sharing these lessons with you is a privilege and I hope you have not only learnt something but have been motivated.
@Richard Adumuah 2019