Reinvention. My personal, physical and spiritual theme for the year. It has absolutely nothing to do with resolutions for the year ahead but rather stems from a realisation which came to be as a direct result of being a parent, seeing life through the eyes of a child and embracing my inner child.
To a child, the world is full of endless possibilities. There is no fear or rather, when fear does manifest itself, a child finds the courage to overcome it. These are traits that we unfortunately lose later in life and I for one have been on a personal journey to reclaim that which was once lost – reinvent myself so to speak.
To say that the past year was an exciting one would be a lie but rather than allow the negativity that was 2016 dictate my future, I’ve instead chosen to take a step back and rediscover some basic elements that used to define me – starting with self-happiness – and ultimately take some advice from my younger self.
Finding happiness when it feels like your whole world is falling apart is daunting but I love that my faith is strong. I’m not here to shove religion down anyone’s throat but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of my faith or that I’m ashamed of my beliefs. Just as sure as I am that the keys under my fingers are real, keeping God at the centre of all that I am an all that I do has brought nothing but blessings into my life – blessings for which I sometimes do not convey enough gratitude.
I woke up this morning and I was just thankful to be blessed with another day. I’m thankful to be able to wake up next to the same beautiful face every day and remind myself just how lucky I am to have her. I’m thankful to have been chosen to be the father of two remarkable, beautiful and intelligent little angels. I’m thankful that even with life’s challenges, I know, feel, give and receive love. I’m thankful for the gift that is family. I’m thankful for the privilege that is friendship.
You see I came to realise that the more I was thankful for, the better I felt. I’m not being unrealistic. There are still battles to fight, there are still bills to pay, there is still evil in the world but they don’t control my life, I do. I want to be happy and counting my blessings does that. It’s those very same blessings that are my key to success in that I’m so privileged to have a strong support system in my wife and all the motivation in the world in my kids.
This has been anything but an easy journey, especially when I can still see the starting line in my rear-view mirror looking back isn’t some sort of security blanket I’m holding onto but rather a reminder who I was – it’s the finish line, the promise of a better me, the acceptance that I have much potential within myself that pushes me. It’s having a partner, my wife, my best friend, my bae, my strength to always walk beside me and remind me that I’m not alone. It’s having two little people who surprise me with just how much joy they can contain in their tiny little bodies and motivate me to be and do more for them.
I’m truly a lucky man. I may not have all the riches in the world financially speaking but my life is richer with the wonderful people in it. I was telling my close friends just moments ago, that “…we need to keep that fire burning. Life happens and sometimes we feel down but that’s why we need to surround ourselves with positive and influential people with God at the very centre. They remind us of our potential. They help us find strength when we’re down and remind us to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. I know life is tough guys but God loves to be tested and He especially loves to show off when He answers our prayers so let’s not lose faith. Change may not come today or tomorrow but you never know just how close you truly are so as blind as we may be to that, let us not be blind in faith. Keep fighting the good fight.”
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