It is January, the month of planning and setting goals. Most of us are at our peak right now. Health clubs will see a rise in new meberships, churches were probably flooded this Sunday, everyone wants to do better than last year. Retailers are going to receive their payments as most of us want to settle our debts, but whether or not we are going to sustain this momentum, remains the biggest challenge.
My social media observations this January have attested to my view that most of us have new hopes. Some of you may not agree but it worries me that we tend to start the year on the wrong slate.
The ’20fortune’ theme is a bit problematic for me. Not that it is wrong to have ambitions and a positive attitude, but I feel that we sometimes put unnecessary pressure on people, especially those who do not have the privilege to plan realistically on what they can and cannot achieve. People do not forgive themselves when it’s December and they have not achieved what they call resolutions.
Towards the end of each year, people get frustrated as they see family coming home with new cars, engagement rings and pregnancies. It is a time when they tend to even forget to thank their Creator. It’s only at 00:01 that they start to remember that they are blessed.
The escalating number of homicides we experience every December can be attributed to the expectations and pressure we subject ourselves to. Clinical psychologists and the South African Depression and Anxiety Group have concurred to this view as well and they also encourage that we get things right from the beginning of the year, during the goal-setting stage.
I know most of you are probably thinking, where is she going with this. I want to remind you to learn to appreciate the small things in life. It is not wrong to work hard and be focused, but we must also understand that there is what we call timing. If it is not your time yet, things will not happen. Sometimes God blesses us differently, for instance with the unification with our relatives we have not seen in years, but we end up not appreciating that blessing because we expect fortune. The materialistic society we have become is distancing us from not only our relatives and friends but also from our Creator. We tend to thank our God and be grateful when we have something materialistic, and that is why it is even easy for us to disobey and take our own lives, forgetting that life is a gift from God and it is a privilege. Motivational speakers are human beings and we cannot take everything they say as it stands, we are human beings and need to start taking what works for us best and discard what does not suit us. With these words, All the best for 2014. May you all be blessed.
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Hlengiwe is a corporate MC, motivational speaker, businesswoman, radio entertainment reporter, magazine features writer, columnist, young professional and mentor.
