Imagine sitting on a beach gazing at a tangerine sunset while sipping a strawberry mojito. Now imagine that you could do that everyday. Furthermore, imagine that all day, every day, your days felt like they were filled with perfect, warm, irresistible tangerine sunsets from the beginning to the end of day. Wouldn’t that be breathtaking?
Sadly, that’s not how life is designed. The rain is as real an occurrence as the sunshine. Some days will be great and others not so great. At every level, there will be challenges of different kinds. It is simply how life is.
So how does one keep hopeful, determined and enthusiastic? Three things.
One. Persevere.
To persevere is to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty.
Pearl, a pageant contestant, gave a speech at the recently concluded Miss Malaika Ghana. She spoke of perseverance and how she believed in herself despite the discouraging remarks from naysayers who told her she was too old to contest and therefore shouldn’t even try to enter the pageant. She persisted and persevered. Through her hard work, intelligence and natural gifting, she rose to the very top five and finally took home the crown as Miss Malaika Ghana 2017. It would have been sad if she had given up at the point of being discouraged by others.
Two. Become a problem solver.
It’s important that one learns to enjoy solving problems. When you view each new challenge as an opportunity to solve a new puzzle and rise to the top, your perspective towards the bumps along the road will change. You start to see those bumps as opportunities to find solutions that will be beneficial to you and others. I can guarantee you that it is not easy and many times you will feel like giving up but I urge you to practice renewing your perspective each time, and solving those problems!
Last week my industrial machine had a ball of thread stuck between the enclosure where the bobbin case goes and the feed plate. As a result, it couldn’t stitch. I tried to get someone to fix it because I was worried that if I opened the machine up, I might have made the situation worse. However, as chances would have it, the technicians I reached out to were too busy to come over. At that moment, I told myself I needed to find an immediate solution and stop the hiccup to avoid any more time wastage. I put my “engineer’s cup” on and went to work. I unscrewed the plate, removed the needle and presser foot, and started removing the threads. After a little while, the solution was solved. I had never done this before. The situation taught me that being pushed into a corner isn’t such a bad thing for it forces you to think of a way out. In addition to that, it helps you grow and become more knowledgeable.
Three. Create your own tangerine sunsets.
When faced with a cloudy and rainy day, sometimes you need to deliberately paint some rainbows by being grateful for all you have and taking the time to celebrate what you’ve already achieved.
Enjoy your upcoming week of tangerine sunsets and strawberry mojitos.
Cordially, Keziah.
NOTE: Most of the images used on this blog currently, are downloaded from the internet through random searches. Where an image source is not acknowledged, this blog DOES NOT claim ownership of it and we therefore acknowledge alternative ownership. Thank you.
Keziah Elaine Ayikoru 