WOW!
Where has the time gone? It's hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the year and celebrating the holiday season. It seems like it was just New Year's yesterday. This year has been a whirlwind. There have been some good times and some not so good times. We've both had doors slammed in our face and been told no several times. Nevertheless, we persisted and made the best of 2017.
2017 was the year of doing for us. The year that we both decided to follow our dreams and create our own lane. Reflecting back, 2017 has really laid the foundation for many things in our personal and corporate lives.
Here are a few things we've learned along the way ...
1. If God places it on your heart, pursue whatever "it" is with a passion.
Each and everyone of us has something that we're good at, our gift. It's what sets us a part and allows us to stand out. Often times, God will place certain gifts and passions for you to pursue on your heart. When he does, go for it. Don't waste it or allow anyone to downgrade your dream. You only get one shot at life, so make it worthwhile.
Know that it may take some time to get off your feet and people may not believe in you or support you at first, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that God told you what to do, where to go, and how to pursue your gift. So go for it. When it's God ordained, he will allow the right people to come into your life, the right things to fall into place, and everything will manifest in it's own time. You just have to have the faith and be willing to put in the work.
2. Stop telling everyone what you're going to do.
No one on this earth has the unique gifts and talents that you do. Often times, God will place dreams and visions in your heart for you to go after and in our excitement we go out and tell everyone that will listen. Everyone that you tell or that you know will not be happy or root for you. Most times, they will pray and plot for your downfall.
If God gave you the vision, keep it between you and him. No one can threaten what they don't know about. Just pray, build and move in silence. Let your actions speak for you. If He wants you to share it with someone, He'll let you know.
3. Believe in Yourself.
Look at yourself in the mirror and tell me what you see. Look at the reflection looking back at you. Often times, we are so hard on ourselves mentally and physically. We don't slow down or give ourselves a break. But to be the best version of ourselves and attract the people and situations that we need, we have to love ourselves unconditionally, faults and all.
Love every single part of who you are right now. You have to first love and respect yourself before anyone else will. From your head to your toes, be good to yourself, treat yourself and love on yourself everyday. Be confident in who God created you to be and don't ever let anyone else discourage or talk down on you. Love yourself because you are beautifully and wonderfully made.
4. Have Quiet/Me time: Learn how to Pray & Meditate.
This year, we've really grown spiritually and mentally and we still have so much work to do. We found ourselves being so tired, exhausted and restless with our job, friends, coworkers and family. Through constant prayer and meditation, God began to take the burdens and worries that we had off of our shoulders. He helped us to heal and overcome any discontentment or stress that we were experiencing. Overtime, we each went to him in prayer and He began to give us the clarity we each needed.
You may be at a point where you're frustrated and tired of a situation and person. You've tried everything you could or know to do but you still don't have any type of results. Try God. Just go to Him and talk. Get everything you need to off of your chest and just leave it in his hands.
5. Trust Your Journey.
So often, we doubt ourselves and our abilities. We think we're not good enough or let others doubts about us take over our mind and thoughts. Stop it. You're the shit and it's OK to think you're the shit. Have confidence in yourself, your talents and your abilities. In whatever you do, give it 100%. Know that you know yourself better than anyone else on this earth. Your gut instinct won't fail you. Whatever you think you are and think you can do, you will do or become.
Take a deep breath and trust yourself. At the end of the day, it's you against the world. You can either let "them" win or you can prove them wrong. Trust yourself and go after everything you've every wanted in your life.
6. Know when to let go of anyone you've outgrown.
The more success you seek or retain, the more people you'll outgrow. So often, we think that everyone who's been there in the past will be there in the future. That's just not true. As you grow and develop into who God called you to be, often times, others won't grow with you or at the rate that you do. This can create unequal relationships, jealousy and envy. Be ok and have enough love for yourself to end these relationships quickly. No matter if it's family member, co worker or friend, know when to let go.
If someone isn't helping you be better or get where you're going, tell'em"BYE." You're going to have drop some people off to get where you're going. Often times we're carrying people on our backs and they're draining us. They're negative, biased, one sided, ignorant, and just not who we remember them to be. When you let someone go, it doesn't mean you love them less, it just means that you're not giving them any power over your life anymore. Know when to let go and lighten your load.
.................
This year has been full of lessons ... lessons that allowed us to grow, mature, and begin to trust our journey. This was the year of "aha," the year that we both decided to go for everything that we've ever wanted. We've been laying the foundation for our dreams and passions, and honestly, it's been one of the hardest things we've done this far. What's made it easier is taking the lessons we've learned and applying them to our life.
Taking each lesson whether good or bad, and using it to better ourselves and to grow.
Life isn't going to perfect. You're going to have some bumps along the road, it's how you handles those bumps and lessons that will make or break you. So take every lesson that you've learned in 2017 and evaluate it. Take what you can out of it, disregard what you can't. Don't take any type of baggage or negativity out of 2017.
In 2018, we challenge you to live your best life, whatever that means to you. Go for it! Go for the dream job, the dream guy/girl, travel more, get healthy, live it up, make more memories or anything else that you want to do. Make 2018 the year doing and living!