LIFE: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

YOU: "Errrrr...."

I'm a girl, so you understand I know how difficult it is to choose. Most times when I have to choose, I don't (*lips sealed*). What I’m trying to say is that I know how hard it can be to figure out what exactly we want in life.

Let me share an experience with you...

At 21, (July 2013) I was fresh outta school (young n fresh *wink* those who know, know..lol). I was 'hungry'.  Everything I did felt unsatisfying. I didn't understand what exactly was creating these feelings, or what I needed to do to change them. But I can remember so vividly the feelings —anger, the emptiness, the yearning, the confusion, the lacking, and the depression. All fused together. 

One day, with a nudge from my uncle, I read the book 'GOALS' and everything transformed for me. I got the boost I needed and decided to focus on creating purpose in my life by setting some precise and concise goals on where my life was heading.

I was fired up; I could feel adrenaline coursing through parts of me I never knew existed. I wrote out 15 things I wanted to have achieved by December 31, 2014 and then the days got darker…

Oh you were expecting a ‘happily-ever-after’? Naaa…

I got broke (on very many levels…lol), I was cranky and jobless, friendless (I had friends but I wasn't the most friendly person at the time), I fell sick a lot… things were just not right at the time and I was très demoralised. But I kept writing those 15 things daily. You know I was 'jobless', so I was consistent... 

Be consistent. Be. Be consistent. (swishing pom poms)

Long story short, I had achieved most of those things I wrote before the end of Q2 in 2014. I didn't achieve 4 of the 15 goals though, because they weren't SMART enough:

·         I didn't get a Harley Davidson Powerbike. Why? Errrrmmm...lol

·   I didn't visit all the places I wanted to visit. Why? How can you travel with an expired passport??? Just how? See?

·      I saved 40% of my income but that was nowhere near the amount I’d written I'd save‎. Why? I wrote an amount in USD I wanted to save every month but then I got a job and 'settled in'. I kinda got lazy in doing all the other-sources-of-income things. That's why.

·     And of course I wasn’t living alone in an apartment in Surulere, Lagos. (Surulere, because it's central and most importantly because the best pepper soup, desserts, amala, etc joints in Lagos are in or around Surulere). Why? Because ‘the society’ (whoever that is) frowns at a young lady living alone, bla bla (I still have a problem with that)… but then, I got free accommodation at place where I felt as at home as I felt in my father’s house in fact, with an extra dose of comfort.

My Bible says: "the expectations of the righteous will not be cut off"‎ (Prov 23:18) that means y'all have to have expectations for them not to be cut off. ‘Seek and you shall find’. Your dreams remain just dreams until you act on them. And that is why my Bible also says "write the vision, make it plain. That he may run with it, who reads it" (Hab 2:2).

Back to my story…

By the time 2014‎ was grinding to a halt, I had achieved my goals, I was comfortable, my list of goals was long forgotten and then things started to go south...

Be consistent. Be. Be consistent.

2015 started and I had no expectations‎ whatsoever or anything to look forward to... I stopped talking to God, I was having challenges in all my relationships. I was too 'settled in'/lazy to try to take back control so I resorted to 'running'...(which is more energy sapping, if you ask me).

…But then, two months into 2015, I got pissed again and the blazing-lioness-mode came back. Times will come when you'll get 'tired' and comfortable with the 'good' but why settle for good where there is 'great' and 'awesometastic'? Consistently take responsibility for your life.

So many times, we simply think our dreams in our heads. We don't even speak them out, talk more, write them down. It happens to the best of us.

You don’t really know what you think you know until you are able to explain it in the simplest, most understandable form to someone else either in words or in writing.

There is a real, affirming power in documenting dreams and keeping an inventory of successes.

In creating your goals, Start by listing: Your values, Your strengths, Your passions

And then proceed to creating a list of your SMART Goals:

S - specific, significant
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, time-bound, timely, tangible, trackable

I still get discouraged sometimes but I keep going because I know there's gotta be more than this. I will never forget something my dear friend, Skip told me once. He said: “if you’re hungry enough, life will soon offer you a buffet of delicacies of your choice”.

So many times you have to try and try all over again; but don’t give up. you can't stop now.

Be persistent. Be. Be persistent. *The touchdown cheer-leading cheer*

My name is Priscilla Adeboye and I’m TEAM-The-Best-Or-Nothing!

Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress...

xx

Photo credits: lifedreamsaspirations.files.wordpress.com; 3.bp.blogspot.com/