My Year End Message – 2010
LOOKING BACK AT 2010
When I look back at the year 2010, I can’t help but smile… actually even laugh out loud in some instances J! It was an awesome year filled with great balance; pain and pleasure, lots of hard work and lots of fun, tears and laughter etc. I am grateful for everything because it all contributed to making 2010 my year of most growth and achievement ever in a single year thus far!
TURNING 30
I turned 30 this year and I must say that that in itself was a turning point for me. I was very excited to finally be in my 30s and at the same time felt a little apprehensive wondering what responsibilities that may bring. And when I talk about responsibility here I don’t mean the ‘big ticket’ kind of responsibilities. I have had those for most of my 20s! I mean I had to work, wheel and deal to put myself through college for the most part from the age of 20. I was a single mum at the age of 22. I had my own place and was supporting a household of 6 from age 23 and so on… and so when it comes to responsibility of that nature like the Vodacom advert says ‘I have been having it!’
This time round it was stuff like; ‘I probably should start taking better care of my skin and body now.’ ‘Does this mean I should now consider getting more formal work clothes?’ ‘Are my days for posing in a bikini fast coming to an end?’ I think you get the picture J!
I looked back at my 30 years of life however and was very grateful for where I was. My list of blessings was overflowing, I had achieved more or less what I had imagined I would by that age and could comfortably say that the people that mattered to me, were proud of me.
ANNUAL THEMES
Over the last couple of years I had decided that instead of setting New Year’s resolutions for each year, I would instead have a ‘theme for the year’. I would then set my goals and be guided by that theme for that year. For example my theme for 2009 (which I adopted from Wes Beavis) was ‘I have every right to be successful. I give myself permission to live life at an abundant level.’ And my theme for 2010 was ‘I live my mission and I get handsomely rewarded for it. I am open to receiving blessings and opportunities and I use them wisely.’
I enjoy this exercise way more than I did setting resolutions. I also totally love working with each theme and seeing how it plays out in the year. In addition, each theme stays with me and the next year’s theme is a building block onto the previous one and so on.
LIFE THEMES
As I sat reflecting on my 30 years of life, I realised that each era of it (divided in 5 year periods) had had its own theme of sorts. For example for the era 0-5 years, the theme for my life was probably ‘Survival’. This is because I was a sickly child and my mother used to pray for me to simply clear the ‘Under- 5’ stage, which a lot of infants never survived then. On my 7th birthday she made me a big party with the biggest cake I had ever seen in the shape of a little girl holding a rose. When I asked her what was so special about this birthday that I was getting this cake she said, ‘Because now you are 7. You are clearly over 5 and I now believe that you will be fine.’
And so I reflected on each consecutive 5 year period and identified what theme each period demonstrated. It was very revealing and I learnt a great deal about myself and the things that drive me! I would highly recommend doing this exercise! It is very revealing! And please don’t think that you won’t remember because you most certainly will!
SHIFTING FROM AMBITION TO MEANING
I realised that the theme for the most recent era of my life (26 – 30) had been ‘Ambition.’ I had been focused on building my career as I was ‘done with school’ and ‘married with kids” J. I realised that this in part dictated our move to South Africa and all the businesses we had set up etc. This brought me to thinking that if in retrospect I can reflect and see what each era’s theme was; how about deciding what the theme for the next era of my life would be in advance … in somewhat the same way that I decide on my annual themes! I mean if you think about it; God has given us free will and says whatever we believe we can do, we can! It makes us masters of our destinies. Unfortunately it also means that if we don’t or can’t decide what we want for our lives and actively work towards it, then someone else will decide for us and make us part of the plans for their life!
So I decided that the theme for this era of my life would be ‘Meaning’. This entails doing the things that mean the most to me; spending time with the people that mean the most to me; listening to my mind, heart, body and soul; living my mission and being true to myself. And what fun I have had doing just that this year already! It has increased my certainty and it definitely allowed my authenticity to shine through this year. It has been very freeing to say the least.
WARNING!!
I must warn that it hasn’t all been rosy. It has also meant having to ‘deal with’ parts of myself that I may have disowned or didn’t completely love and seeing how they served and serve me and loving them. This is not an easy thing but it can be done. I am definitely still growing and learning about myself, others and life in general but I am having fun doing it.
THEME FOR 2011
So what’s my theme for 2011? My theme for 2011 is ‘Exponential growth, quantum jumps and leaps of faith for myself and all that encompasses me.’ I am very excited about it and I am looking forward to 2011 with confidence. I have set my goals for the year with this underlying theme and they are so inspiring that I am already working on them! J
OUR GIFT TO YOU FOR 2011
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I wish you the very best for the coming year and beyond!
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