We grow through what we go through
You can be here one day and then gone the next. You can wake up each and everyday and live life or let it pass you by. This is what it was like living in 2021. It felt like I was walking on eggshells and I either had to allow F.E.A.R to hold me back or get up and make a change. I was face with some hard truths/lessons, but it was a wake up call that life is what “You make it.” Here’s 10 Hard, Powerful & Influential lessons 2021 has taught me.
Be Patient
“Patience is a virtue,” and one thing 2021 has taught me is to be “Patient.” We can get so stuck on the timing of things, that we merely miss the lesson between waiting. I don’t know when exactly I became such an impatient person, but 2021 has been a humbling experience and has taught me to surrender control over when things will happen and trust “God’s Timing”. Everything will fall into place at the right time and in the right moment. God’s timing is perfect and while waiting he wants us to,
- Trust in him
- Do the necessary work while waiting
- Learn valuable lessons while waiting
- Be Patient
Live Fearlessly
When I say “live fearlessly,” I don’t mean jump off the highest cliff into a body of water (LOL!) I simply mean live life to the fullest. Don’t allow F.E.A.R to hold you back from living a fulfilled, peaceful, joyful, and happy life. We all deserve happiness, and it starts with choosing to be happy. Trust me I’ve lived in fear for 4+ years and it felt like my life was at a standstill. It was like I was living the same life over and over. You know why was that? Because I allowed F.E.A.R to control me, my life, my actions, my feelings, and my thought process. I was so afraid of living that I started to believe what my F.E.A.R was telling me! It sounds crazy to admit, but F.E.A.R should never be this powerful in your life. No matter where you are in life, no matter what your circumstances may be, always choose to live your life! Living is apart of life. You don’t enjoy life by playing it safe, you enjoy life by living in your truth and not allowing it to be all that you are. Choose to Live “Fearlessly!”
Be Humble
It’s true what they say, “Life will Humble You.” So many people have lost 20+ year jobs, their homes, cars, family, etc. But still they rise. I just want to Thank God for all that he has bless my family and I with through these uncertain times. If there has ever been a time where I never felt more grateful and happy to be alive it’s now! Living through these pass 2 years has humbled me in ways I never was before. It really opened my eyes and heart to how showing gratitude for everything you have is important. There’s so many things I would complain about (small things at that) and these little things Living in these pass two years has also made me most people didn’t even have. This experience has also made me appreciate my husband more. He was faced with so many challenges/health concerns, but he still went out and worked to provide for our family. He’s truly an amazing man and I am Happy to have him. I couldn’t imagine having to leave the comfort of our home each and everyday and not feel anxious or scared of getting sick. I probably would shit my pants at the thought of catching The Cvirus, LOL. But, in all honesty the pandemic has taught me to Humble myself before God and be appreciative of everything in my life whether it’s good/bad.
Trust God Not Man
“Trust God Not Man.” Very powerful words with so much meaning. I use to put my trust into others and each time I did, I got disappointed every time. I had to realize my expectations of what I expected others to do for me was far beyond what they themselves expected. I was expecting others to be who I wanted them to be or at least what I envisioned them to be and I was wrong. It’s true what they say “A hard head makes a soft ass,” and I learned that the hard way. Instead of trusting others, I should have trusted God. God is the answer to everything. Instead of going to others for things, I should have been going to God. I say all this to say, be mindful of what you expect from others. Sometimes people won’t understand what you want/need unless you explain it to them, word for word. However, even doing that doesn’t mean they’ll understand and give you what you need. Tuh! But the one person who does is God.
- Lean on God
- Trust in God
- Pray to God
and all your answers will be addressed. I also want to you all to keep in mind, I’m not saying not to trust others, but to be mindful of the expectations you place on them. “Don’t buy a banana and expect it to magically turn into an apple!” LOL!
Take Care of You
If it’s one thing 2021 truly taught me, it’s to take care of myself. For so long I neglected myself and made “ME” my least priority. I was physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted and for so long I couldn’t explain why. I wanted to get myself out of this funk, but I didn’t know how. I’ve had some success here and there, but I would find myself right back in my sunken place. Needless to say I had to face my own demon, “Myself!” I was the reason for a lot of things bad happening in my life and for so long I tried to blame others, hell even the World! It wasn’t until I sat down, prayed, and faced my truth, was I was then able to release myself from my own insecurities. I am still a work in progress, but I make a conscious decision each day to nourish “Me” physically, mentally, and emotionally. Sometimes as women, we forget that we matter. We hold so much over ourselves and for what? 2021 has taught me to show myself “Grace.” To speak positivity over me, to take care of me inside and out, and to love on me each and everyday. Do not neglect yourself because after all “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
Your Thoughts Become Things
The saying is true, what you think eventually begins to manifest into your reality. Each and every thought we create in our minds have the power to show up in our life. Sometimes we don’t even know how powerful our thoughts can be because after all there in our head, Right! But that’s far from the truth. Everything we think we eventually begin to believe it to be true. I am a product of “Your Thoughts become things.” I was so negative at a point in my life. Everyday was a struggle for me and I couldn’t figure out why. I always thought the worst of everything and everyone and I was proven right each time. Why! Because I convinced myself that what I thought was true. Of course I was wrong, but I let my negative mind convince me otherwise. Once I had enough of everything bad happening in my life, I started to change. It started with me reprogramming my mind. Instead of thinking of everything bad I started thinking of everything good. I really had to capture my thoughts and change them around. It was so easy for me to form negative thoughts and opinions in my mind, but hard to form good ones? I would never understand that, but each time I even felt myself thinking of something negative I replaced it with something positive. ”Positive thinking leads to
Positive outcomes.” The more positivity you allow to flow through you, the more positive your life will get. I don’t know about you all, but a negative mind has never given me a positive life. Be careful of how you treat your mind, our minds are a lot more powerful than we think.
“Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket”
Invest Your Money
I am sure most of us grew up with the false belief that money is the “root of all evil,” and that is far from the truth. Having a lot of money doesn’t make a person bad, just like having a little bit of money doesn’t make a person good. If there’s one thing 2021 has made me realize, it’s to have multiple streams of income. So many people lost their jobs the past two years and most lost their, home, cars, etc along with it. It was a wake up call for a lot of us especially my husband and I. 2021 really opened our eyes and made us take that leap of Faith and invest our money, instead of hiding it away in a savings account. Investing our money so far has been one of the best decisions we’ve made. We’ve always know we were going to invest our money once we reached a certain financial threshold, but instead of waiting for the so called “perfect amount of money,” we decided the time was now. If you have extra money hiding away or coming in every month, I encourage you to invest it. There are so many options available. Instead of holding on to that stash of cash put it somewhere safe where you can double it, even triple that amount in due time.
Spend Time W/Family & Myself
As a SAHM you would think this would be the last thing on my mind, “Spending time with family,” and truthfully sometimes it is. However, being in a pandemic has really made me understand the importance of spending time with my family & myself. Sometimes I feel like there’s a disconnect between my kids and I, even though I see them everyday, I still feel like I don’t spend as much time with them as I should. It’s a hard truth to swallow but, 2021 has made me realize how important it is to get that time in with my family. It has also made me realize how important it is to spend time with myself. I rarely if ever carve out time in my day to be alone. As a mother and person in general it’s a necessity to have time with yourself. Spending time alone gives me a sense of peace and allows me to clear my mind and just focus on whatever it is I need to at the time. I realize now it’s not selfish to want to be alone because I am human and alone time doesn’t mean running away from everyone, LOL!
Don’t Give Up
You never win by giving up, so why give up? Over the past 4+ years I’ve giving up on a lot of things. Some of those things I didn’t even stick with it long enough to get both feet wet. It was so easy for me to give up because it kept me in my comfort zone. Being in my comfort zone was my safe place. I didn’t have to worry about not succeeding at something because I didn’t try to begin with. Having that kind of mindset caused me to lose sight of why I wanted to do something in the first place. I was so afraid of something not working out that I convinced myself if I tried I’ll be wasting my time. Sometimes we get so caught up in wondering why something won’t work out, that we avoid the question “What if it does workout?” What if we followed our dreams/passion and it works out? What if we become successful and exceed far beyond our expectations? If we allow ourselves to overcome fear and step out on Faith everything will fall into place at the right time and in the right moment. Giving up is not an option. Nobody said life would be easy, so why take an easy way out by giving up? Think about this: “Why give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about?” Ask yourself this question each time you want to give up. It’s okay to get tired, it’s okay to take a break, but don’t give up. You and I were both made to live a fulfilled life.
Pray, Ask, Receive
There’s a saying that if you don’t ask for what you want then you’ll never get it. I use think that if I said out loud what I wanted, it’ll magically fall into my lap, but clearly I was wrong. Life doesn’t work like a genie in a bottle, you make a wish and then Walla your wish comes true! LOL! If that is how asking for things worked, I would have been on a private island right now, sipping on some fine whine, laid out on a beach in the sand with my husband and our kids. Unfortunately when you ask for something, there’s work to be done in order to receive it. But, first you need to ask God exactly for what you want, pray about it, work for it, and eventually it’s yours. I truly didn’t understand how pray, ask, and receive worked until nothing I wanted ever came. I also sometimes felt guilty about asking God for things because I felt as if I didn’t deserve what I truly wanted. However, 2021 has taught me asking for the things you know you deserve is not a sin. God doesn’t want us to live a life of misery, he wants us to enjoy life and that is why he wants us to ask him for things. It doesn’t matter what it is because we all deserve the finer things in life. If you’ve been asking for things and not receiving it, I am here to tell you, your asking wrong.
- Pray
- Ask
- Receive
in that order.
In Conclusion
Overall 2021 was a great year. I’ve experienced laughter, happiness, clarity, sadness, anger, confusion, and a ton of other emotions, but I came out of it alive and well. Everything I went through was to prepare me for this next journey in my life. 2021 was a year of
- Growth
- Clarity
- Understanding
- Preparing
- Embracing
- Facing/ Walking in My Truth
- Leaning on God
2022 here I come!
