My favorite part of December 31st is taking some quiet time off to read through my New Years resolutions that I wrote exactly a year ago. I take some time to reflect on the kind of year I have had, think about what is important to me now, what will be in the future, then make a new list of New Years’ resolutions. I am a strong believer in the law of attraction and nothing makes me happier than knowing that I accomplished most of my wishes for that year by simply writing them down and allowing the universe to provide for me.
I was very excited for 2014 being the year of the horse and myself being born in a year of a horse. I believed in strong beautiful great vibes to come along for the year and now as I look back, I must say I had a pretty good run. For those of you wondering, my biggest challenge was and as long as I’m still there will always be, pursuing my Pharmacy Doctorate. It’s probably the biggest challenge that I have ever brought onto myself and even though there have been very trying times when I wanted to give up and run away to hide in Bali forever, somehow I stayed and pulled through and for that I’m proud of myself. My saddest moment this year was the loss of my Dear Brother Olavi Hafiz Ndaula Matovu. I still feel a lump in my throat when I speak of his passing and sometimes I think he’s gone somewhere to Italy and will come home soon. I have never experienced a death of someone so close, so abruptly, of someone so dearly loved. We miss you everyday Olavi and we know and pray you have peace where you are.
My happiest moment this year was on the first of January when I shared FabsCulture.com with the world, seeing the numbers of followers on my website grow everyday and the compliments coming in. There were days when school got the best of me and I delayed to post and I’d have people ask me why I hadn’t posted in a minute. A lot of the content in my website is from the heart, for the love of sharing, and not for the purpose of “views” or to make a buck. So to know that people do appreciate it, fills my heart with gratefulness. So ThankYou Reader!
As I end this, my last Blog Post of 2014 I’d just like to put out some thoughts and lessons that I learned this past year and hopefully they might inspire you as you welcome 2015.
This Life is a valuable gift…Enjoy it.
We take our lives for granted. We believe we have time. We put our dreams on hold. We are waiting to grow old, waiting to graduate, waiting for some sort of green light. But the truth is we don’t really know how long we have. So our green light should be now. Go achieve your dream, go do something you love, take that vacation, get out of your comfort zone and challenge your life in a significant way that will give you life long memories.
Tell the people that you love, “I Love You”.
Growing up African, saying “I Love You” wasn’t exactly our cup of tea. We kinda just knew. But as I grew older and as I learned to take my emotions more seriously. I came to realize that showing gratitude was one of the strongest positivity vibes. And that included showing and telling the people you love, that you are grateful for their presence in your life. It took me a sudden loss of someone so dear to me to realize the true importance of a simple conversation, and silly joke and shared laughter. Savor every moment of it every single time, for it might be the last.
Kindness and a great genuine smile do go a long way.
Be polite to everyone. It won’t just make you feel great about yourself, people will love you, respect you, and who knows one of them might turn out to be of great help to you. I am a “Major” introvert which makes social life a battle field for me. One of my New Years’ resolutions for 2014 was to learn how to interact with people more. Of course I wasn’t going to out-do myself, I started and I’m still taking baby steps with a simple “Hi, how are you” to strangers, and actually listening the reply. It’s amazing how kind people are and how much they are willing to share, not to mention the surprise on people’s faces at your sudden interest in their life. People love attention and if you give it to them, they will be good to you. You might be surprised at how many favors you could get just by being nice to sales people in stores and thanking for their help. And how do I know this, let’s just say I can’t count how many times I have gotten employee discounts at DSW.
If you can’t control a situation, let it go. It’s meant to be, it’s will come back to you and it will be!
Be it love, or that promotion, or that car. If you have done everything in your power to make it happen and it’s not happening, maybe now is not the time, or maybe God has a better plan for you. “Everything Happens for a Reason” so let it go. Send out your wishes to the world, have faith that good is coming to you and go on about your life. If it’s for you. It will come back to you, maybe even better than you thought, and if it doesn’t, maybe your worth was more than that.
Keep in touch with your old friends.
Nothing feels good like a great laugh with your “Day Ones”. I still keep in touch with many of my childhood friends, and when we get together, it’s a blast, every time. It’s so inspiring seeing your buddy that you played “hide and seek” with at 7 years old, walking down the aisle to say “I Do” or having their first child. Even after I moved to the Unites States, I kept in touch, on FaceBook and I can tell you everytime I see my friends take major steps in life, I’m as happy as their mothers.
Reflect
Take sometime off to yourself often and think about how far you have come, where you are now and where you want to go. It keeps you focused on your goals. Every time I find someone who claims to not know what they want in life, I ask them, what do you love to do?What makes you happy? Not one time have I failed to receive an answer. So if you’re out there and you have no idea about what you want to do with your life, ask yourself the same questions and start from there. I believe happiness has a lot to do with spending your days doing what you love the most. Whether it’s being a lawyer, or a mum or a tailor. If you find joy, and peace, and excitement in waking up to do it everyday, it’s your calling, so start making a plan now, to get you to it.
Sometimes God takes a long minute to answer your prayers but he will. Have faith.
He works in his own time. He knows what’s best for you. So if he’s waiting, as much as you may not understand why, you should probably be waiting too. Whichever higher power you believe in, if the intentions are for the Greater good, you’ve got to have faith.
Life is too short to beef and hate.
I let go of grudges in 2014. It’s not worth it. Just a load of negative energy, that’s all it is. If you have a problem with someone, talk to them about it. Figure it out. Let them know how you feel and if you were wrong, apologize. I’m telling you, it’s too stressful having to avoid going to places because your sworn enemies are there, having to greet 3 out of 4 people because the fourth talked shit about you. Chill, live your life. If they’ve got issues with you and it’s not your fault, then that’s their problem. Live your life.
Second Chances can be the charm.
Sometimes, simply forgive and give a second chance. You may not know where it will lead or how it will turn out, but you just have to follow your heart and take a risk, and who knows, that might just be the best risk you will ever take.
Be true to yourself
I’m always messing around with my friends and telling them “Only You know the truth, late in the night when you’re in bed by yourself”. And it’s true. We have to put on so many faces for the world. We smile when we are hurting, we laugh when our hearts are bleeding, we show off yet we haven’t any. These lives that we live on the outside are very staged. Sometimes it’s ok to live like that if some situations are better left private. But in all that, always keep it real to yourself. Don’t establish yourself around “Fake”. If you need help, ask. If you need a hug, ask also. Remember you are not in this by yourself, you and only you have the power to get yourself out of a situation because only you fully and truly know what exactly is going on and what it truly is. Have some real friends, stay close to your family, and if you don’t have any of that, go to college and make some friends that are Psychology majors so that when they become “Shrinks” you can get a friend’s discount.
January 1st 2015 is FabsCulture’s 1st Birthday and before I go off to reflect on my life and make my long self-awaited list of New Years’ Resolutions, I would love to thank you for visiting my blog and looking around, liking, commenting and sharing. I wish you a Lovely and fulfilling New Year, Find Love, Live Love, Give Love.
I’m always here, come back soon,
Love you always,
Mahbuba.
