12 LESSONS IN YEAR '23.

In 2022, I picked my private book. You could call it my journal, or not. It's both actually. Not a journal, and yet still so private. I have so many other books, but this is a special one. 

I picked it up and started documenting in a list manner, and not in a storytelling manner, the notable moments in each month. The moments did not have to be all good. It could have been a challenging time, and I could have still written it.

But in 2023, my private book was picked around April ish. I had forgotten that I was documenting moments, so while trying to fill the months I had missed, I struggled.  

The moments in those past months was getting too blurred to be remembered. I was not an ingrate or someone who just prefers to live life in a moment and forget all about it minutes after, or something, but I was forgetting the moments because they felt normal, not too striking a news to be noted.

I kept glaring at the book for minutes, and after I had thought about it so hard along with checking few jotters to see if I might have written a 'To-do list' or 'a prayer point' or anything that would help remember months and events, with my eyebrows pulled together, and my pen in my hands, I wrote the moments I remembered. In the process of filling in these moments, I noticed that even the littlest thing I overlooked was spectacular in its own way, and I learnt to be more grateful.  

Yoruba people do say that Eni toba mo'nu ro ni yoo mo ope daa.

  A thoughtful man is a grateful man.

I am grateful and more. 

So, I picked 12 lessons from the littlest moments of my journey in 2023. The 12 lessons might mean a lesson from each month, or might mean random lessons from the year, whatever it is, enjoy!

1. Celebrate wins and be grateful for every journey you make (big or small). Learn to document them; It could be visual or written. 

ON CELEBRATING WINS/JOURNEYS

-Moved from Ibadan.

-Went through a minor surgery.

-Sold one of my books to two people.

-Went for a movie location.

-Went to OAU.

-Went for a Village Outreach with my family from Church.

-Finished an online course at Jesus Film Academy.

-Taught on Scriptwriting.

-Had hot water pour on my right foot (very unserious accident).

-Accepted that my blood be collected by my comrade, so we could practice most laboratory tests on it. I collected hers too, and we both had access to do a lot of laboratory tests (Malaria, Microfilaria, Helicobacter Pylori, HIV, Genotype, Blood group, Widal, Hepatitis A, B, and C). This was an achievement for me, because needles scare me and I only accept people I believe are professionals to collect my blood. 

-Planned an online conference.

-Went for Rebootcamp (CCI -Ambience) at Daystar Church.

-Went to submit an application letter at the American Corner Ikeja for a friend.

-Went for Purpose and Destiny Summit around May, in Ogbomoso.

-Went for Hangout with JD.

-Went for Becoming the 1 percent.

-Went for Get on LinkedIn LAUTECH, and was part of the volunteers.

-Saw IBK after a few years of graduation from high school at the reboot camp. We'd been planning to meet at the camp weeks before the camp, though.

- I went for The Experience at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. 

And, lots more. 

CHECK THE IMAGES BELOW FOR THE EVIDENCE OF A FEW OF THE LIST ABOVE! Lolllz.

 Ibkkkk!

Here, I was at the Village Outreach we went for.

OAU, Ile-Ife.

Movie location (at Ile-Ife).

At 'The Experience'. We could not find space to sit in a more brightened area, so we managed the space we got.

2. Be prepared for the opportunities you pray for. Don't be praying to get a project management job while you're yet to even know the definition of project. 

3. You keep unfolding and unraveling. The more you grow, and fulfill purpose, the more you unravel. 

4. Be more intentional about your health. Whatever signs you notice in your body, should not be ignored. You can search about it, ask questions, talk to someone mature about it, go for checkups. Checkups are costly, I know. But, you want to know that you are good. Even if you've prayed about your health, get a medically proven report that shows that you are in perfect condition. 

There was this man that came with his mother to the hospital. He brought his mother to be tested in the laboratory. He was not the sick one, his mother was, but he asked to also be tested. When he asked to be tested, he did not know he had illnesses that needed immediate treatment. He did not, at all. He ended up spending more than he budgeted for. 

I know hospitals can be one kind; You go in with one illness and you end up coming out with almost 7 other illnesses, but you should still be more intentional about your health. It's very important. Eat healthy meals, be observant, and take care of yourself. May we not be unfortunate. Amen?

5. Celebrate friends and family. 

6. It's not enough to set goals for a project, build a system around it. Build structures and form the right habits. 

7. In all your dealing with humans, be honest, and be real with them. 

8. Asides needing the wisdom to prepare for the purpose of God for your life, you need the boldness to execute. 

9. A man in the purpose of God, is a dangerous man, whom the Lord guards jealously.

10. Worry solves nothing. It adds no inch to your height. It adds no new clothe to your wardrobe. Instead of worrying, why not pray? Prayer does not have to be so difficult. It does not have to forcefully involve you going to the mountain or something. It needs you to be in alignment and in communication with God, wherever you might be. 

11. 24 hours is so short. Lorddd! You do one thing, and before you know it, the time is gone. Morning comes, and evening comes, and a day is gone. Another day begins, and it goes on, on a repeat, before you know it, another year is gone already. I actually learnt that 24 hours can be so short that you end up being so productive. What you do with your time matters, so what are you doing with your time? 

12. Know God for yourself, because we are in the season where a lot of people will be coming with a lot of 'God saids.' If you do not submit to walk with God and allow him journey with you, you will be swayed by the words, only to be in regret.

Though Year '24 is the continuation of the calendar, can we see it as a new slate for us? See it as a second chance that you must not mess up. You might have been asking for a greater Grace, see this as a new level of height where you operate on a higher kind of Grace.

Thank you so much for being part of my 2023 story, let's cheer up to new beginnings in the coming days. See you in 2024!

Ara.🤗