Karabo Jhamba

I started writing this post late last year and could not believe how quickly time had passed. I mean, its January one minute and the next we are singing Christmas carols. It feels like just yesterday when the year was starting and we were so excited, eager for all the amazing things we were going to achieve in the new year. Some of the things we had planned to do last year we did and we did them very well, some we let slip by, some just never saw the light of day, while we are still hoping to put some in before the end of yet another year.

While I was writing the post last year, I had planned to do some sort of countdown, and I started a whole 90 days to a better me challenge. To finish the year on a high you see. But I will be honest, I did not last 3 days in that challenge. No, actually, it was all of 2 days and I quit. Not that I quit on becoming a better me, no. But I quit on giving myself until the end of the year to do it. Something about that stifled me. It felt like I was saying I had not been improving myself the whole year. Like all I had was 90 days. Like it had to be done now, this year. Like if you did not do the challenge there was no hope for you.

I have nothing against timed challenges, sometimes it is just what we need to get us out of a rut. Break out of our bad habits. But, often times, when you miss a day, when you start later, it does feel like you have missed the boat. I try not to do long challenges, because I do not know what will happen in the future. Short and to the point, also gives me room to see if I want to go all the way, and I that way I don’t get bored easily.

I am a firm believer that it is never too late to start over. Yes, you may be at the end of your ‘years’, at the end of your career, at the end of your ‘prime’ years. But it does not mean there is no hope for you. Look at Sarah in the bible, she thought she was at the end of her child bearing years, but God had other plans.

A whole year may have passed you by while you were still day dreaming about what you wanted to do, what you were going to do, but you do not have to wait for the beginning of another year to start what you have always wanted to do. Not having met your objectives in the year(s) past does not mean it is all hopeless and not worth trying again.

Stop waiting for a year to start. Start now, start where you are, with what you have. If you started but forgot or lost focus, get back to that project, get back to building yourself. Do not wait for a January. Do it now. The January may never come in the way you want. It may bring other challenges. Now while you have remembered, start. Today, right now if you can. But start.

Rarely will you have everything at your disposal. You need to go out and get everything you need. I suffer from over planning. I plan, plan, plan and do some more planning. My challenge to myself if to get to a point where I have done enough planning and start doing. Plans on paper or in your mind remain just that….. Plans.

Don’t let another year pass you by, another season, another month, another week, another day, another hour, another minute. Start now, start where you are, start with what you have. If you need help, go out and get the help that you need. Do not sit and wait or sit and give up. Start doing. Start over. But START.