The year 2014 was declared “Twenty for me” and it started off like any other year for me, magazines hounding us with articles on New Year’s resolutions and how we should learn on fulfilling them. It is six months later and I am reflecting on what I DID DO and what I DID NOT DO with my life. Honestly I did not have a list because you never know which way life will throw you. I started my year anxious and just ready to resume with my studies and try and get JOB. Hmmm not much luck there, although I miss December time already where there are no assignments and I can just let my hair down for a month or two.
It’s funny though that as soon as June ends, we go in a panic; saying the year is half way through and “I didn’t do anything” really? Did you not go to work every morning or finish your assignments on time or go to gym? Why are we in such a hurry to reach certain stages of life that are merely just there and set by society. Like for instance a woman should be married at the age of 30 and at least have a child too. It is okay for a woman to move back home when she feels all she has tried in her life has failed; be it her career or marriage. But let it be known that if a man were to do the same, he would seem as weak for not being able to provide for his family if married or his girlfriend’s needs.
Society has made up rules that we just adapt too without sometimes realising it and we don’t see anything wrong with those rules, hence we feel the need to run a sprint and do things in a hurry because we feel like time is running out, but running out for what though, that should be the question we ask ourselves sometimes. People need to stop being hard on themselves, life is already hard enough, we are all trying to get by and with all the economic highs and lows we facing it’s bad enough that the cost of living just keeps getting worse, so why beat yourself up? If you feel like you in a rut and nothing is working for you, rather look at ways to improve your life.
Paulo Coelho said “Our time on earth is sacred presence, and we should celebrate every second of it… Over-anxiety ultimately banishes every trace of joy from life… Our contradictions. We are in such a hurry to grow up, and then we long for our lost childhood. We make ourselves ill earning money, and then spend all our money on getting well again. We think so much about the future that we neglect the present, and thus experience neither the present nor the future. We live as if we were never going to die, and die as if we had never lived… Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station.
So live life to the fullest and take every obstacle as a lesson not a timer for you to rush into things. If you made any New Year’s resolution and you have kept them…well GOOD for you, if not don’t worry life is too short to worry about a list, right?
By Boipelo M