The Christmas season which is a celebration that is peculiar to December is always interesting and fun-filled.
The joy of the season is such that is felt by all, including none Christians. Most businesses seem to boom more during the Christmas season and most business people always look forward to it. It is also an interesting time for employees as most organisations give a long holiday for workers to rest and have family time with their loved ones.
The excitement, expectation, and joy that accompany the Christmas season are such that can hardly be compared to any other season.
However, for many families and individuals, beyond this joy and enthusiasm, there is also a kind of pain, disappointment and pressure underneath most smiles resulting from unmet expectations and unactualised dreams.
While the singles are crying about not knowing how to explain to their parents their reason for returning home single without any sight of marriage in view. Others are wallowing in pain over broken relationships due to being dumped by a lover who is trying to evade relationship Christmas expenses. 😂
Even parents are not left out of this pressure as most of them are worried about how to purchase Christmas stuff for their kids.
What about those who started the year with written out goals about all the things that they would like to achieve within the year only for them to wake up this morning and realise that yet another Christmas is upon them with no means of them attaining their major goals for the year?
Even children are not left out of this pressure sometimes as they continue to mount pressure on their parents to buy them Christmas items.
Ah! The ember months, particularly December often come with loads of pressure. And these pressures are usually quite depressing, to say the least.
But on today’s LM Family and Kids segment, I just want to remind you that December is not a deadline for any achievement in this life, so don’t kill yourself with pressure.
This is not the only Christmas season there would be. Remember that end of the year does not mean the end of life. The year is only wrapping up for another year to unfold.
You might say, but aunty Ugoma I’m not getting any younger. I also understand you, after all, none of us is getting younger, however, the fact that we think time is going by our human calculation does not mean we should overwhelm ourselves with the burdens of life.
If it did not happen this year, IT CAN HAPPEN NEXT YEAR.
If you could not meet up or were unable to achieve all that you set out to achieve this year, next year is another year to achieve them in a bigger way. You never can tell, perhaps for the delay, God could decide to give you a double portion of that achievement come next year.
Just believe it.
I am not writing this to you from the standpoint of a strong woman who never worries about anything, rather I am writing this to encourage myself as much as I am also trying to encourage you.
I woke up this morning and it dawned on me that there are many things that I had set out to achieve this year which till now humanly speaking it does not seem like I am anywhere close to achieving them, but I encouraged myself in the Lord, knowing that as long as I am breathing, it is not over. God can do it. And He will.
So, instead of allowing the thoughts of your unattained goals to depress you, why not focus on being thankful for the little you were able to achieve? The truth is that it might not even be as bad as you think.
For instance, among the many things that I wished to achieve this year, authoring 2 books, one for teenage girls and another for teenage boys were among them. Thankfully, I was able to achieve one. I wrote and published a book titled #GIRLUP, a book on menstrual health education for teenage girls.
So, rather than focus on the other book and many other goals that I was not able to achieve, I choose to focus on being thankful for the little I was able to achieve.
And that is what I would like you to do also. Focus on what you have going for you at the moment while you pray and work hard towards that which you are yet to achieve. IT SHALL COME TO PASS, ALSO. I BELIEVE AND I ALSO WANT YOU TO BELIEVE IT.
I will be here to celebrate with you when God makes it happen for you.
Cheers to greater and better years ahead.
Cheers to big, bigger, and biggest achievements to attain.
May God perfect all that concerns you.
- Ugoma Johnson is a journalist, published author of 3 books, a social worker, and founder, Teens Empowerment And Rehabilitation Centre (TercHub), a foundation that is saddled with the mandate to curb teenage pregnancy, illiteracy and period poverty, through transformational teachings, provision of school materials and sanitary pads for teenagers in ruler communities.
