GIVE UP OR GET UP

Wow, it’s such a joy being counted amongst the living in 2010! Being a witness to the first year of a brand new decade! With the vibes I’m getting, it promises to be a year filled with pleasant surprises, open doors, breakthroughs and so much more. I have made up my mind that this year, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (not even myself) will stop me from reaching my set goals. I have also made up my mind that this year, every labour of mine will bring forth profiting, every opportunity I have lost in years past will be restored to me a hundred fold. All my determination notwithstanding, I know there’ll always be challenges along the way, hindrances that the devil will set before me to stop me from achieving my God-given goals and dreams for the year. It happens every single year and I find myself overcoming some of them (challenges) and being overcome by some of them. Many times, half way through the year, I ask myself how I could have been so silly as to set such unrealistic goals and then I find myself re-negotiating with God or just generally deleting the task from my list of goals all because I was too discouraged to persist to the end.

Recently I discovered a sheet of paper where I had scribbled 10 things I wanted to achieve before I die (I must have written this list sometime in 2002). As I read through the list, some things sounded realistic (I had actually achieved one or two already) while some sounded ridiculous. I started laughing at the ridiculous ones, saying I must have been nuts hoping to achieve them. I kept them on my bedside table for a few days but eventually shredded the paper and threw it in the bin. As soon as I did so, I felt God asking me why and I was speechless. After much thought about my reasons, I realised it wasn’t like I doubted God could achieve those goals in my life before I died, I think somewhere along the way, I simply got discouraged; got tired of hoping, waiting, believing... I think I just gave up! For some reason, I didn’t believe in the dreams anymore (and to think I’ve not even reached 50% mark of my lifespan!!).

 

Meanwhile for the last two weeks I’ve been reading a John C. Maxwell book titled ‘’The Difference Maker’’. The book simply talks about how having the right attitude in life can make the difference between a successful or failed life. In the book, I have learnt a lot about discouragement (a major obstacle to having the right attitude) and how to overcome it. As a matter of fact, I wish I had reached that chapter of the book before I shredded my list). I learnt that there are two types of people in the world when it comes to discouragement, the splatters and the bouncers. When splatters hit rock bottom, they fall apart and they stick to the bottom like glue. Whereas, when bouncers hit bottom, they pull together and bounce back. I have searched myself and I think in some areas, I’d say I’m a splatter and in other areas, I’m a bouncer.

 

An example of a splatter is the woman who got unceremoniously fired from her job after serving dedicatedly for over 20years. She was sent packing with no reason and no gratuity. She spent the first 6months, grumbling, talking to lawyers, talk-show hosts etc; looking for ways to bring down the Company and get her pound of flesh. In the process, she became popularly known as the disgruntled ex-staff and prospective employers were reluctant to take her on lest she does the same thing to them. She also lost favour with potential clients for the consulting business she used to do on the side. She ended up a very bitter and unhappy woman and this affected her relationship with everyone around her. On the other hand, an example of the bouncer is a friend (a star performer) who, like the woman above, unceremoniously lost his dream job with no explanations. He asked lots of questions why but didn’t get sufficient or satisfactory answers. Now rather than sit in one spot and brood over what had happened, he immediately dusted his CV and went for bigger dreams and bigger Companies. You bet that with his experience, in less than 2 months, he was already gainfully employed and had rapidly moved on with his life. This is not to say he wasn’t still hurt and disappointed by what happened, he just refused to allow it distract him from his goals (well then again I guess you could say that as a man, he knew if he didn’t get another job ASAP, no amount of law suits would put down school fees money!!). On a serious note, he’s one of the few people I know with the largest bounce-back spirits I’ve ever come across. In fact, not only will he shake off the heat and bounce back, but in the midst of his challenges, he’ll still spend time encouraging and helping those around him when they’re having their own set-backs.

 

So having said all this (and having read this book), I am determined to give ‘’bouncing back’’ a serious try this year. I am expecting to face hurdles, obstacles and challenges throughout the year because I know that overcoming obstacles is a normal part of life. But this time around, instead of fearing the obstacles, I intend to face them head on. I intend to have the right attitude because my attitude is what makes the difference between whether I’ll GIVE UP (and shred my dreams into the trash) or whether I’ll GET UP and continue the race to fulfilling them come what may.

 

My prayer is that come June 2010, I won’t be reading this post and contemplating deleting it out of discouragement and embarrassment!!!

XOXO