Welcome to to 2024. It’s the beginning of a fresh new year and there’s a lot to be done. Let’s take some lessons from what was a trying 2023 for many.
For those of you looking and planning ahead, please be careful of big promises from scammers, like certain food-stamp hamper dealers.
It’s so sad to read stories of people who diligently paid monies month after month, for an entire year, only to be left high and dry when the time came for the stamps to be delivered. Please stop being so trusting. We live in tough times, money is tight and people are easily tempted by the cash they are entrusted with. Even reputable stokvel managers have been falling short on the honesty scale.
Try doing your own savings plan this year, or look into very trustworthy Apps, like Stash. It’s managed by Old Mutual and allows you to save small amounts of money on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, with zero banking fees. I’ve been using it for almost three years and can vouch for its simple genius.
With all of that in mind, on this second Monday of the year, I thought it would be prudent to inspire as best I can.
I don’t even know if people still bother to make resolutions, but no doubt those that have been made may already be lying in ruins.
Some joke that resolutions are merely another name for the to-do list for the first week of a new year. Be that as it may, resolutions don’t have to be restricted to the start of a year.
Nothing stops us from trying to keep them all year round; to continuously improve ourselves and our circumstances; to dream bigger dreams and strive for excellence.
In other words, if the promises you made yourself last week are important enough to you, then you will keep at it, until you succeed at them.
Last year was challenging for many reasons, most of them out of our control.
For example, I suffered a sudden and unexpected financial blow when I lost my main job as a breakfast show presenter after 10 years.
For a while, I felt shell-shocked and more than a little adrift, uncertain of what to do next. But the whole experience turned out to be transformative in numerous ways.
It reminded me of how easily one can lose sight of one’s purpose, especially in the corporate trappings designed to exploit your gifts to benefit the few.
It’s a comfort zone that I slid into very easily and caused me to forget who I really was. I ended 2023 with dozens of newly- opened doors, all of which are affording me the one luxury we all deserve – ownership of our time.
So perhaps what we need to do this year is teach ourselves to focus on those things that we can control. And to not forget that failure is an important part of the road to success.
This will be the second year that we are completely free of any Covid hiccups. This means if you haven’t yet, you can start working on very long-term plans for yourself and your family.
The whole idea of manifesting your wishes has rung more and more true for me in the last year. But you can’t just sit around lazily meditating and dreaming of the things you believe you deserve.
Sustained and disciplined action is required.
Achievement is a puzzle that you need to build little by little.
You really can’t let a single day pass without having worked on your personal goals and dreams, even just a little bit.
Now, you guys know that I put a lot of faith in the empirical virtues of science, so it isn’t easy for me to connect my wishful expressions one moment, to an identical reality some time later.
But I’m also not so narrow-minded as to dismiss it out of hand. I suppose what I’m trying to say is, have faith in the seemingly impossible.
It may just be your time to be astounded at how possible it is to get what you believe you deserve.
breinou@gmail.com