By Amara Thoronka
Days ago, we bid farewell to the year 2023. It was the end of a 12-month [365 days] cycle. As in every other year, 2023 was characteristic of mixed experiences: the good, the bad and the ugly. 2024 is now here and rolling as we are now several days into January. It is a feeling of excitement for many to witness crossing into a brand-new year. Yes, it feels good; but it is however worth noting that the year is just a calendar, a convenient way of counting the passage of time in our lives, employments, associations and ways of life. It reminds us of our age and the time we have spent doing something or nothing. The calendar helps us reflect on the past, know what to do in the present and predict the future. It gives us 365 days [normal year] or 366 days [leap year] to think, dream, wake up and act accordingly by setting reasonable goals and achieving them. Throughout the year, birthdays are celebrated, deaths mourned, national and international days observed, power changes hands, jobs found and lost. Some cry while some laugh.
There are usually events of merriment and thanksgiving in bidding farewell to an elapsing year, and warmly welcoming a new one. December, the last month of the Gregorian calendar, is characterized by entertainment, reunion and a range of electrifying activities. During such a period, several people in the Diaspora return to their native countries to rejoin and merry with their families and friends.
When the year elapses, there is normally a strong optimism in people to be prosperous in the following year. It may sound mythical and superstitious to many, but there are indeed people who hold the conviction that the New Year has a mystic force to change their pain into gain, disappointment into appointment, failure into success, sadness into happiness and misery into glory. You would often hear them say “new year, new changes”.
Let me hasty to say it is not the year that brings about positive or negative change, but our attitude, behaviour, actions and choices. In this twenty-first century, the first step to success is mostly informed by the acquisition of and engagement in education, technical skills, trade and any other legitimately productive source of livelihood.
Unproductive discussions that add absolutely no value should be avoided. Such discussions hamper your creativity and distract your goal-achieving focus.
The change will never occur until one is committed to realising it. The pathway to fulfilment is most often rough, tough and frustrating. Sometimes, the pressure keeps accumulating exponentially with a cloud of despondency or pessimism. I have learnt that such a cloud will vanish when one confronts it with determination, resilience and action-oriented faith or trust in God and oneself.
The year is just a comprehensive and sequential arrangement of time. Stop the illusion that the year is what brings you success. If it was so, why not everyone just sits in armchairs and wait for the magical success?
Move from your comfort zones, stop sleeping too much, stop the purposeless and unyielding arguments about celebrities and politicians, stop making yourself vulnerable to be used for political hooliganism and violence, stop spending extravagantly to impress people, desist from consuming anything harmful to your health and wellbeing and stop demotivating yourself. If you want to do something productive, just believe that you can. It is all about having the right mindset and well-informed actions.
Find something economically viable to do; and when you find such, do it with all your might, dedication and commitment. Avoid shortcuts to success because it is most often fearful, deadly and regrettable.
Find a mentor in the craft, skill or trade you have chosen and learn through apprenticeship. Don’t be flying without guidance because you may crash. Such viable guidance can be satisfactorily given by a mentor, so find one and learn the essential rudiments of your desired walk of life.
Be prepared to undergo a series of agonies in your daily genuine pursuit. They are never meant to kill you but rather to empower and shape you to better handle what the anticipated victory will bring.
Many successful people were not born with a silver spoon [born rich]. Some came from conditions far worse than yours, but they took the challenge to be outstanding. Had they been lazy and visionless, they would not have been mentors and paradigms of sincere accomplishment today.
Again, stop waiting for the year to elapse with the mythical hope that the next would bring good tidings. Dream big, wake up from that visionary dream, knock at doors of opportunities, and grab the availing opportunities to unleash your potential. Life is short but the impact and value you add to yourself, your family, your community and the nation can be indelibly and positively transforming.
Change demands a changer (initiator/conduit) to make it potent. Be that changer of the change you desire to see in your life, family and society.
