2017 Taught Me Lessons!

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Our Blog Festival ended yesterday and I must thank all participants of this year’s blog festival. Without you sending in your awesome articles and without you coming here to read something daily/weekly, there won’t be a blog festival on ELSiEiSY! Thank you all for the support over the years and keeping the hope alive even when I stop believing in myself. You are my true family. I love you. Click here to read all Blog Festival posts if you missed any. Gracias!

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2017!!!

As far as I am concerned, it’s a year of lessons. Fam! I learnt. Funny part is, thinking about it all, most of the lessons were lessons I thought I had learnt, I thought I was wise, I thought I had sense, I thought I made the most careful and wisest decisions. But lo and behold, brethren, I was shook… and I learnt. LOL

2017 had me going high and low and high and low and high and low and high and low and high and low and low and low and high and low… Sincerely, I am glad it is ending today. But despite all these, one very important factor was constant – The God factor. I’m eternally grateful for how He fathers and loves me.

Before we share our lessons from 2017, I will like to appreciate every platform that recognised me for my little efforts this year:

It started on the 19^th of August, 2017, when ASHER FLEET, the organisers of ESTHER BEAUTY PAGEANT, presented me an Award of Decency in Media for my personality and TV show. This was totally unexpected, owing to the fact that I have only shot one season of Crux of the Matter for TV, albeit having been on radio for more than a year. Special thanks to the organisers for seeing me worthy of such recognition alongside giants in the industry.

Then, on the 28 of October, 2017, I was a speaker at the African Writers Meet Conference where I was presented another award of recognition by The African Writers. This too, was unexpected and quite sweet. I love fiction, creativity, literature, poetry and spoken words – all these is very evident on my blog. I am not a fantastic writer but I adore the art of writing and which is why this blog will always be home for creatives and the literary community. If you are part of the community and need a platform to show case your awesomeness, ELSiEiSY is always open for you. Simply click here to join the family.

Then, that takes us to November when I received an email from Lisa Kok, informing me that my blog has been included in the Top 20 Relationship blogs for 2017. Trust me when I say this one, I think I can relate to and call a promotion because last year (2016), I was included in Top 25 Relationship blog or Website on web by Feedspot. This reignited my passion for my blogging. Thank you!

And on the 30^th of December, 2017, I was recognised by Auracool Digital Agency as a Top Rated Influencer on Facebook by Auracool Socal Media Awards 2017. It was a good year guys! This particular award had me laughing because if you have followed me consistently for close to 12months now, you would have noticed that at some point this year (say mid 2017), I became less active on Facebook and returned to my first love – Twitter. But like they say, people are watching. I will try to balance it out…though not easy but I will do my best to be active on the three social media platforms I have an active account on – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I am also hoping to start vlogging soon. So help me God!

So let’s see how many of these 2017 lessons I can share:

Do not let go of what you have for what you think you might own.
You are enough: never forget this
People will be jealous of you even when you do not think there’s anything about you or that you own, worth being jealous of
Your friend’s friend is not your friend
Most people are only truly genuinely happy for you when they are still steps ahead of you
Love is not forced!
Love is a game, the best player gets what they desire. Don’t worry, with time you get better at the type of game that’d bring your desired partner or you give up and settle.
Friendship doesn’t happen overnight. Wait for that trying moment, it defines your people.
Never expect people to treat you the same way you treat them. But it is very acceptable to adapt the way they treat you and apply it to them. Don’t feel bad at all when they start complaining.
If you are like me, note that there are very few people who can keep up with your personality and perspective. You are totally fine.
If you put your hope in the most high, He will never fail…He never fails.
There is nothing like ‘Happening to life’, life happens to us all. The important part is how you navigate through the happenings of life.
Networking is Gold!
Don’t underprice yourself. The ones who value your brand and service will find a way to meet your standard.
Your best referrals will most likely not be your chummy friends and family. They are usually strangers you don’t even know are there or watching you. They are your true cheerleaders.
Getting to the needed peak of your career takes years of hard work but it happens overnight. Once you cross over, it begins to look like you are not stressing you best believe you must continue to stress to maintain the peak range.
Your true friends may stay way for a while but they never leave you.
It’s get to a point in your life when your love and affection should be a decision and deliberate, not blind and childish. What are you bringing to the table?
Know your destiny, know what it feeds on and feed it. You are not the next person not even your twin. We are unique. God is awesome like that.
Take charge of your life and let go of that which you know is beneath you. You are worth more.
Having standards isn’t bad. Just make sure they are realistic. People who should vibe with you will vibe with you. You don’t have to roll with a crowd.
Take risk! Love! Pray!
In friendship, there will be fights, quarrels, misunderstanding, pain and and some level of betrayal…But we are humans and must look beyond our weaknesses.
Nobody owes you anything!
Relationships are transactional. We are always giving something and receiving something. whether defined or not. It is what its is.
Words are easy – Follow their actions not words.
Cherish people who share with you, especially money. They’ve got heart of gold and they care. Don’t take them for granted, pay back if you are expected to…That way, you don’t ruin chances of getting help for other people.
Don’t let go of the people you need for the people you want because they massage your ego.