Choosing to be okay

I've been so busy lately, the retail industry is already preparing for Christmas so we're horribly busy. I'm not sure I enjoy being this busy, I don't feel very useful, I fact I feel vulnerable and susceptible to error! 

In this time a lot has happened and of course I have learned a lot... It would all have been in vain if I wouldn't have learned any life lesson at all!

1. No body in this world can ever care more about you than you care about yourself, if you don't care about yourself you're screwing yourself over!

2. Read worthwhile books, some of the things you read will keep you sane when no one is saying anything worth hearing.

3. Hang around people that'll uplift you... Negative people suck!

4. Don't tell everyone your business, not everyone is out there to help you out.

Finally...

5. Remember that at any given moment, you have the power to say, "this is not how the story is going to end!"

Decide that you're going to be ok, pray about it, and leave it in God's hands!

So here's to deciding to be ok

Just don't know...

I really don't know what to write about tonight, but I have a strong urge to write before I sleep. (**_) it's been such a crazy week though, I've learned so much about myself and where my breaking point lies. 

I've reckoned that even your character is something that you are able to learn to change and adjust. 

Your IQ you apparently can't change you either score high or score low and that's just that, but apparently with EQ which determines your emotional intelligence, you are able to train your brain to act and respond differently to certain things and to be resilient where need be. According to your IQ results you may be dumb but because you have trained yourself never to give up and to keep trying till you succeed, you may still turn out better than a person who had scored a higher result on their IQ testing. 

So no need to take a IQ test to see if you're clever or dumb by some man's standard... Rather work on being resiliant, working well under pressure, coping with high levels of stress, etc. things that don't seem to matter but have such a huge impact on our daily lives and whether or not we survive in THIS world.

Hmmm who would've thought that I did to know what to write about a couple of minutes ago...

Here's to not knowing but giving it a try anyway!! 

Prepared for a REAL quest...

Life is just so strange. If you're somewhat religious or at least believe in God you know who's got everything under lock down but, if you're not you may even sometimes feel lonely and a bit overwelmed. You learn new lessons each day, try jot them down so you won't forget them. You see something interesting, you read it, you try it, you taste it, you engage with it whichever way you please. You encounter new people, some you like, some you don't like, you try keep contact with the ones you like and you stay clear of the ones you don't like. And each and every day this happens and every day you make decisions different or alike to the ones you made the day before.

In fact that's what life is made up of. What you do with the the things and the people you encounter. How well you remember and use the information that you were once fed... Whether you use it in a company setup or you use that information to start your own company, it doesn't make much of a difference. 

It's all one big quest... Made up of little quests and that's what life is. You're luckier if you're a believer in God because in that case you at least have an experienced Tour Guide, if you're not, well I reckon you should reconsider...

Here's to going on a REAL quest accompanied by The Real Tour Guide!!

"It doesn't get easier, you just get better!"-unknown

Sometimes I look at people and wonder how they do what they do.... People like Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, India Arie, Dr Ben Carson... The list just goes on and on. So if we look at the all these people there's a common trend of hard work, repeated failures and repeated getting up and trying again... It just reminds of quote by Gary player, "the harder you work, the luckier you become", so you may wonder why some people seem to have big breakthroughs and others don't seem to be getting "lucky" the answer is that SOME people don't just sit around, they're constantly preoccupied so that when the opportunities come by, they're ready to actually do something with them.

So in theory it's very possible to be counted as one of those big successful entrepreneurs... The key is to just keep working at it! You can't lose sight of the dream and you can't get distracted though, you need to focus and just keep working at it and it'll feel like it's getting easier while in the mean time you're just getting better, hmmm your "luck" will start picking up... Lemon to lemonade moment.

Here's to enjoying a nice cold glass of lemonade (**,)

Do what you are able to for now...

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forgive the ones who don't  and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it." - Dr Seuss

Can you believe it's the silly Dr Seuss who said such wise words??

I've been troubled by so many thoughts lately, many of which are just idle "daydreams", some of which are mini brainstorms in my mind. I wake up each morning, go to work, do what i need to do, all the while fantasising about the this tornado of thoughts in my mind. 

I read this really cool post in a blog yesterday by this illustrator guy (Stephen McCranie, http://doodlealley.com/2013/10/16/get-stuff-done/) about planning backwards, he calls it reverse engineering or something fancy like that, but basically the idea is to think of your dream and physically start back dating until you get to where you are today. In other words you plan backwards so that you can start living each day according to that "dream" which has now just transformed itself into a goal.

When i read this it made me have a mini "aha" moment where it just dawned on me that:

1. Life is just way too short to be living without a well drawn out plan, and more importantly, living by that plan! You need to wake up every morning with a renewed vigor and a new spring in your step knowing that you're well on your way to making things that are in you power to change CHANGE for the better and for the fulfillment of your dreams!! 

2. LIFE is way to short to spend worrying about other people! Before you start thinking I'm a cold hearted person, hear me out... You're born with a whole lot of people around you, it's first the midwife or the doctor who helps you out of the womb, then the nurses that help you clean up, then your parents and you family. The list of people that are around you grows as you grow and get exposed to the world, soon you realise that not everyone is around you to help, love and care about you, other people, for some strange reason are there to traumatize and terrorize you as much as they possibly can. Now, this is all normal, it's normal to be loved and, believe it or not, it's normal to be hated and traumatized, that's just how people are. Guess what? Whether you worry or not, this will remain the same so just don't worry! Your job is to love the people that love and care about you and when they decide to stop loving and caring... Well?? They're loss I guess, don't waste your time worrying... Life's too short for that!!

3. IF you're handed an opportunity take it with both hands and give it your best shot! Make it count!!

Opportunities don't come by every day, but when they do come make them know how much they are appreciated, make them want to keep coming back to you! Sometimes you'll get hurt, sometimes you'll celebrate, sometimes you'll have sleepless nights... It won't all be sunny and "summery" but it'll sure as hell be worth, whether lose a loved one or a limb, whether you pass or fail, whether you gain or lose... You will learn a lesson whether good or bad, so make the most of it...MAKE IT COUNT!!

Here's to doing what I can for NOW! 

You're worth so much more than that!!

For quite a long time I've been wondering why I keep being hurt by similar circumstances? Am I dumb or something? I've just taken a step back and it has dawned on me that it's the same things that people say, it's the same emotional roller coaster rides that I commit to that land me in the same emotional ditches! But why do I keep repeating the same cycle? Am I addicted to the same kind of hurt? Apparently it's one of the many signs of madness to keep repeating the same thing while expecting different results. In plain English, you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome, it just never works (I'm not sure what would possess one to think that would work to even begin with).

I spent a lot of the day on blogs, reading quotes and passages from different websites in pursuit of the answer to why I keep sabotaging myself emotionally and it all boiled down to one thing... SELF-WORTH!! You treat yourself well if you think you deserve to be treated well. You abuse yourself and intern allow other people to abuse you (emotionally) if you don't think you deserve to be treated well. If you're a princess,you're a princess PERIOD! If you don't know that you're a princess, well... That's where the error begins. When you don't know how much you're worth you're bound to sell yourself short!! (Way too short)

So I came across this quote that says, "sometimes you have to forget what you feel, and remember what you deserve!"

I don't deserve to be taken for a ride, I don't deserve to be undermined or spoken down to, I don't deserve to be seen as a sex object, I don't deserve to be seen as inferior in any way at all, I don't deserve to beg to be where I should be,... And the list could just go on and on of things that I just DO NOT DESERVE!! Sometimes I may settle because it feels good to be desired, it feels good to be emotionally strong enough to take the knocks that are shot my way, it feels good to prove a person wrong... Bla bla bla (-_-) ultimately, however, if I want the cycle to stop in it's tracks I need to REMEMBER, that I deserve a WHOLE lot better than that, because I'm worth a whole lot more than that. 

The cycle stops HERE!! If someone wants me to even give them the light of day, they need to acknowledge that I'm worth ALOT, and unfortunately, not everyone can afford all of this!

Here's to remembering what I deserve, because I'm worth so much more than that!!

Time to LIVE

I've been reading this book, "I kissed dating goodbye" by Joshua Harris, rather slowly, I guess because I'm afraid of the implication that comes with having received such information (",) in the sense that you are judged according to the truth you know... What you don't know won't get you into trouble. So it's a very easy, good read but I've been at it for quite a while.

I started the chapter, "the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing"... Haven't finished it, but I started it last night. Harris raises a very good point bout how we're always rushing to the next phase of life. When we were kids we looked forward to a time when we'd be in "big school" from big school we're looking forward to high school at high school we're in that teenage "too big for life" phase, longing for university life when we're away from home. At university we wish we were working, at work we wish we were back in university but with the money that work brings then finally, u come to terms with the fact that you're working but now you want a steady relationship, marriage, a car(if you don't already have one), a house... Basically you want the Disney thing... (Meet Prince Charming and live happily ever after)... Hmmm it never works that way just by the way. There's an important phase called "singlehood" - You're probably calling me old shool in your mind right now but that's ok. The phase is still real and I believe it's quite relevant too.

The only problem with singlehood is the negative connotations that comes with not only the word but the phase in itself... Singlehood, in my own definition is a time that you dedicate to being as free as a bird ('.') hahahaha, ok not a very good definition but that's exactly how I see it and in more words, Harris says the same thing. Basically, the concept is that in this time you're available to do what you would like to do without having to answer to anyone - such things as serving in ministry, traveling for a purpose and even things that seem easy to do while you're in a relationship like praying and fasting, reading the word etc. it's not impossible to do these things when you're in a relationship but it sure is difficult.

So those of you who are still single this is a call to just enjoy the phase. I'm guilty of not enjoying the phase and constantly looking to the next, the catch though is that once you're in the phase that you were looking to, you actually want to go back to where you were. In this case you'll get that boyfriend or girlfriend and maybe sometime during the relationship you'll wish you were single. Hmmm how ironic, but in my experience it's so true!

Well, here's to enjoying the phase (.")

A focus on what I HAVE

“Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage”

(Ecclesiastes 5:18, NKJV)

"The scripture talks about how God has given us the power to enjoy what is allotted and appointed to us. That simply means that I don’t have the power to enjoy your life. You may have more success, more money, more friends or a better job, but if you put me in your life, I’m not going to enjoy it. We are uniquely designed to run our own race. When we truly understand and embrace this, we won’t be tempted to compare or wish we had what someone else has. You won’t think, “If only I had their talent...” No, if God wanted you to have that talent, He would have given it to you. Instead, take what you have and develop it. Make the most of it. Don’t think, “If only I had her looks...” No, God gave you your looks. That’s not an accident. The life you have has been perfectly matched for you. Now, you’ve got to do your part and get excited about your life. Be excited about who you are — your looks, your talent, your ability, your personality. When you’re passionate about who you are, it brings honor to God. That’s when God will breathe in your direction and the seeds of greatness in you will take root and begin to flourish!" - Ps Ray Patrick This is the devotional Ps Ray Patrick sent to me this morning. I found it very fitting for the kind of thought's that have been going through my mind lately. Sometimes we set ourselves up for failure or doom by the thoughts that we choose to entertain. After reading this devotional it clicked that there's only one me, who's uniquely me. No one could live or handle my life the way i do it. No one has what i have in the measure that i have it and the best thing i can do for myself is make the most of it!! So here's to making the most of MY life... CHEERS!!