How 2017 Fixed Me + Tips On How Not To Really Mess Up 2018

God turned the tables around for me last year and I guess that’s why he never gave me a plan, but an empty tablet.

I’ve read quite a good number of write ups and articles on how 2017 went down for a lot of people and trust me most of the stories have been quite emotional and deep.

2017 for me was a year of TRUE JOY, GROWTH and PEACE. I’ll tell you why.

2016 was a terrible year and I still call or term it My Worst Year ever because it pushed me to the bottom, brought me up again, tossed me left and right till I could “grab it by the ba**” . 😂

Now I know God made me experience all I did because I had to learn and grow. I tell myself daily that if I could survive 2016, I can keep on pushing.. ( Permit me not to talk about that year, till I’m ready..).

2017 on the other hand was a year I entered filled with so much Joy which I couldn’t account for. I remember dancing into the new year filled with so much excitement but no fixed plan or goals. I just wanted to live out the year one day at a time.

I had dreams and imaginations of where I would love to be at the end of the year but I had no plans at all. One thing was certain though, I was ready to put me first and treat me as a priority.

I knew and had the confidence that I was relocating to a new state for the first time, but I had no plans on how to get a job, get a home, fix my feet and live knowing I would be leaving my job, my church and the friends turned family I had nurtured. No plans, but God did it. (.. insert Travis Greene song: You Made A Way..)

God turned the tables around for me this year and I guess that’s why he never gave me a plan, rather he gave me an empty tablet where only he can fill up and he did.

Even just at the peak of the year while compiling my testimonies, something that would ordinarily have shook my feet to the ground if it was 2015 or 2016 happened but this time I am bolder, better and way happier knowing every thing that happens is for my own good.

You’re not about to read “Tips on How to Write New Year Resolutions” and How To keep it” or an article stating “How to plan for the new year..” Nah.. I’m still figuring these things out myself.

Rather, I’ll just let you in on a few tips and lessons you might need to pull through every day in 2018.

• Don’t beat yourself up if you have no plans yet. Yeah..you heard right. Don’t! You still have time to plan and if nothing is really coming up to mind, pray and ask God to show you what you need to do. Leave the drawing board totally empty and trust him to fill it up for you.
• Learn to trust God more than yourself. As you live each day, wake up trusting him to guide you through.
• Not everyone is meant to stay with you on this journey called life. People will come and go. Your friends would move on and even lovers might too if they are done with their role in your life. It doesn’t make them bad people, rather it means they were not meant to stay but help you on the way. Most of the friends we will meet that would still leave are special gifts from God designed to push us off the limits we created ourselves.
• Always know that what ever situations you might have gone through in 2017, IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE! So don’t stop thanking God for the little and big miracles.
• Work! Slay! Work! Don’t leave your mind idle for unnecessary work. The mind is always searching for what to think about so feed it. Don’t let it find what to do, feed it. Give the mind what you want it to think at every time as you can.
• Trust yourself too. Continually remind yourself that you’re capable of achieving your dreams and wriggle it out.
• Learn a skill or more. Learn something new because the world is totally evolving. You need to step up your thought and intellect to keep being relevant. Its one phase to get to the top and another to stay there.
• Take risks you’re ready for. Don’t take risks because your friends are doing same. Don’t! Be sure that is what you should be doing. Like one of my favorite friends, Oluwarufus Oyemade said, “I want to be intentional about my success this year. I’m not going to be one with the records of “bumping into success”, I’ll create it.” You should too.
• Love more and deeply. Reach out to people that can’t pay your love back and love them. Help the less privileged whenever you can and not just on Val’s, Christmas or New Year’s day.
• The journey of life was created and given to you by God to cherish, protect and live. Don’t live it trying to please people. Live your life for you please.. Its very important.
• Set short and long term goals and try to meet them.
• Ask for help when you need it. Don’t die pretending you got it all together when you know you’re messing things up.
• Take a break when you should. Rest and sleep when you should. Don’t force your brain to produce things artificially.
• Lastly, Love, Live, Laugh, Learn and Lead!

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” — Cecil Beaton

Cheers to the new year where we stay winning no matter what life throws at us!

If you enjoyed reading this post, kindly show the love by clapping the loudest and highlight your favorite paragraph from the article.

Side Note: I specially want to thank everyone who viewed, read, clapped, highlighted and even responded to my articles in 2017. You keep me going everyday and give me loads of reasons to keep writing. I love you guys! Let’s keep this and do even more in the new year.