My Year End Message – 2011

I just love this time of year! It is the time when I look back on the year gone by with gratitude and reflect on all the lessons learnt. It is also the time when I look forward with excitement and think of my theme for the following year and make plans around that theme.

And what an AWESOME year 2011 has been! It surely lived up to the theme that I had set last year – ‘Exponential growth, quantum jumps and leaps of faith for myself and all that encompasses me.’  I thank God and all the wonderful people that contributed to making it what it was.

QUITTING MY JOB
So yes I finally bit the bullet this year, quit my job and moved out of the E-quadrant in July… and what an experience! 🙂 I had planned to do it later in the year (December) but balancing it all started to get a little hectic and I made the decision after attending a breakfast where they were talking about the symptoms of burn out! I thought they had conspired to talk about me as I could see I had A LOT of the symptoms in myself. In that moment I decided that something had to give… and sooner rather than later.

So I discussed it with Sandras, who’s response was “FINALLY! I wondered why you wanted to push it to year end!” LOL! Anyway we did the calculations and a few days later I handed in my notice. At that point I was excited! It was done! I was going to work for ‘us’ full time now!

THE IDENTITY CRISIS
One week later I was a wreck! I had a serious identity crisis! I kept thinking ‘so WHAT am I going to be?’ I had always been ‘Lelemba, the Chartered Accountant.’ I took a lot of pride in that. I had been a CA since the age of 21! For the most part I had always worked ‘in big organizations’ with all the ‘oomph and pomp’ that comes with it. I certainly didn’t know just how much of my identity I had wrapped around that part of me until then… and I felt NAKED!  The 2 weeks that followed were crazy. I was crying over anything and everything. 🙂 I felt like a deer in the headlight. I felt a great sense of loss!

Thankfully the men in my life (Sandras, my dad and my sons) and my close friends were there to baby, support and cheer me on. By the final week of work I had comes to terms with leaving my job and felt a new sense of gratitude, preparedness and excitement. I learnt that we clearly shouldn’t knock that 30day notice requirement that most companies put in place for when one resigns! Its not just for the employer to be prepared but for the employee too! LOL!

REDISCOVERING MY CHILDREN
Working from home gave me the opportunity to rediscover my children! Something I am very grateful for. Firstly I didn’t know how much of me they had in them (including being naughty and highly manipulative at times!) till this year…  🙂 I certainly didn’t see much of that side when I was working away from home as they could get away with being ‘good boys for the evening’. Now I have had the chance to just hang around them and observe them, talk to them at length about their ‘issues’, answer their non-stop-and-at-most-times-shocking questions and know them. And what a marvel they are! Everyday I am surprised by something they say or do and everyday I see God in them. For surely man cannot, with all his faults, make such complex yet perfectly functional beings. They are living, breathing, thinking and constantly eating machines! Its quite humbling to say the least to have these miracles in my life. I am eternally grateful that I am now more available for them.

SO ‘WHO’ AM I AFTER ALL? 
So who am I after all? I am Lelemba.

I am NOT just one facet of my life; I am not just my qualifications; I am not just my marital status; I am not just my gender; I am not just my race…etc…  I am all of them put together and MORE. You can take one or all of these facets away and I still am. I am anything and everything I CHOOSE to be. I am divine. I am love. I am life. I am choices. I am freedom. I AM.

THEME FOR 2012 
From this realization of who I am, was born my theme for 2012 which is ‘Limitless Giving’.

One of my mentor’s Roger Hamilton often says ‘There’s a limit to what you can get but not to what you can give.” I agree. We are limitless beings. There is so much of ourselves to give the world. The only thing that can limit us from doing, being and giving more is ourselves. I have made the decision to not get in my own way of doing, being and giving more. And now my prayer when I wake up each morning is simply ‘ Dear God, How can I be more? How can I give more? Please show me what you will have me do today.’  And yep! Everyday He shows me! 🙂 And man is there stuff to do! LOL! I look forward to each day with gratitude and excitement!

THE AFRICAN D.I.V.A.s SOCIAL INITIATIVE
In October we launched the African D.I.V.A.s social initiative which is dedicated to African women all over the world who want to be, do and give more. Our aim is to enable you to do so and to celebrate you for it!  We do this by providing you with highly discounted personal and professional development training programs and support to help you achieve your hearts desires, giving you great opportunities to make money through and with us and celebrating your unique journey via various media platforms.

By choosing to be part of this initiative and choosing to be more and do more, we also enable you to give more as 10% of ALL our revenues will go to the African D.I.V.A.s funds that are dedicated to education and enterprise development for women.

Find out more about the African D.I.V.A.s Social Initiative HERE

Find out more about the African D.I.V.A.s Funds HERE

52 WEEKS OF GIVING
So 2012 will be all about giving and every week we will be giving away something! We will be giving away money, goods and services, spotlight, time and A LOT more! We are super excited that we cannot wait for 2012 to start the giving and so its starts NOW! 🙂

– FREE Goal Setting LIVESTREAM Session by Sandras J Phiri – Want to set inspiring goals for 2012? Then Join Sandras on Monday 19th December at 19.30hrs for this FREE 45 minute goal setting session. You cannot afford to miss this. REGISTER HERE

– ‘Set Yourself Up for a Financially Abundant 2012!’: I am giving highly discounted small group Financial Management training and coaching Sessions throughout December and January to help you set yourself up for a financially abundant 2012! REGISTER HERE

Want to join in the giving? Email me to tell me what you would like to give here [email protected]

I WAS HERE by Beyonce Knowles
I leave you with my song for the year. The link was first sent to me by a friend and one of the African D.I.V.A. Partners in Mozambique, Silvia Banze (thanks Silvia!). I cried when I watched it because it sums up where I am in my life, how I feel about it and what I want it mean. The bonus is it is by one of my favorite artists Bey! Enjoy!