I love the run up to Christmas and I look forward to it with so much relish. I get so busy preparing for it so hard that it takes my mind of things that are normally bound to ruin my mood.
I get to indulge in shopping, cooking, baking, binge watching the food channel and derive pleasure from comfort food.
After the Christmas celebrations, say 29th or 30th of December, my emotions start to get the better part of me. It always seems as if the lack of preparing for the Christmas celebration has left a void in my life. I start thinking about the loved ones I have lost during the course of the year, wishing they were alive to see this day. Another factor that brings my emotion to the surface is my level of accomplishment.
At the beginning of every year, I have set goals that I hoped to achieve before the end of the year, now the end of year is near, I begin to take stock of the year and most of the times I realise I have fallen short of my expectations. This disrupts my mood a great deal and my emotions tends to be all over the place.
I have come to realise that quite a number of people feel this way too.
If you ever feel this way, then this message is for you.
Hope is a good thing. I heard this statement in a movie titled Shaw shank Redemption. I changed the statement to suit my state of mind at that time to 'Hope is a beautiful thing' and I added 'hope is for the living, in all things choose life, choose to live and not exist'.
You might say which dumb person if given an option to choose between life and death will not choose life, well let me explain it.
If you do not learn from past mistakes and keep repeating them, you are not choosing life. If you choose to live in the past, allow fear, shame and guilt to rule over you, you have not chosen life. If you thrive in negativity, pity party, being the victim always, never owning up to your own responsibility then you have not chosen life.
You might not have expressly chosen death but you have chosen to exist instead of living, instead of dusting yourself, pick yourself up from the ground and move on.
If you go into a relationship pretending to be what you are not, you have not chosen life.
If you keep seeking validation from people, you have not chosen life.
If you hold on to relationships that are bound to ruin your life or any part of it, you have not chosen life.
That you have not achieved your set goals is not the end of the world and does not make you a failure.
There are several definitions of hope but I love this more
Hope is that beautiful place between the way things were and the ways things are yet to be.
Being hopeful is being optimistic that things will get better. Being hopeful is a choice one has to make and you can't just chose hope and go lay down, It is not enough to just write down new year resolutions and hope to achieve them all. You have got to put in the work towards achieving your set goals.
As this year is coming to an end don't allow fear, shame, regret, guilt, hate, lack of accomplishment, resentment to pull you down, take solace in the fact that Hope is a beautiful thing and it is for the living. That you are alive is something you should be grateful for and with hard work, diligence and perseverance, you will accomplish your goals.
As 2017 beckons, I hope that it will be a great year for you. I hope that if given an opportunity to choose between life and death - you will choose life.
I hope you never take being alive for granted
If given an opportunity to choose between living and existing - I hope you choose to live.
If given an opportunity to choose between sitting it out and dancing - I hope you choose to dance.
If one door closes, I hope that another door opens
I hope you fulfil your destiny and accomplish your set goals.
Above all, I hope you experience True Love.
PS - This is the third year in a row that I have stopped feeling sad at the end of the year not because I have achieved all my goals but because I have replaced being sad with being hopeful. Hopeful that the coming year will be better. I always take solace and comfort in these words by Oprah Winfrey
I do not know what the future holds, but I know him who holds the future. I always add this and He's got me.
God's got you.
2017 will be a great year for us all
Best wishes
Bola Awe
