So, it’s 2024 and I am in a new space. Literally and figuratively.
I’ve left the eastern side of New Providence and now reside…well, smack in the middle really.
I’ve survived the ultimate freelancing year of my life making less than I did when I was a 15-year-old salesperson at a local clothing store my uncle used to manage. I totally loved my first job. I thought I was RICH. Chile, please! But I digress.
I’ve learned a whole lot from 2023. About who I am and where my boundaries are for myself. Some folks really don’t like that part. Taking it to God in prayer is all I can say on that front.
Some things have changed. I’ve learned how to be kinder to people while loving them from a distance. I’ve learned that some things aren’t good for me even if they feel like they are and letting go is fucking difficult when you’re as stubborn a person as I am. I’d blame it on being a Taurus but that’s a cop out. I’m just hardheaded and, unfortunately, have to learn some things the hard way.
Some things have stayed the same. I’m still solution-oriented and a problem-solver. I’m just no longer trying to solve everyone else’s problems—only my own. I can’t pour from an empty cup.
One thing is certain – and I’ve seen this repeatedly over the past 12 months.
God is in control!
That’s it. That’s the takeaway.
I read somewhere before that in order for God to do the super, we have to do the natural. Pretty sure it’s a YouVersion thing. Nonetheless, it’s the truth. I can’t sit on my ass to wait for something I want. I also can’t go get it all on my own without proper guidance, instruction and (sometimes) course correction from The Big Guy.
2023 was spectacular for some spaces in my life. It was humbling as fuck in others. It was a reality check in areas I didn’t realize I needed a check-in, and it illuminated a LOT of issues I had been sweeping under the rug with family that had to be addressed before I punched a one-way ticket to hell. This may or may not be another post. Still debating if I even want to rehash the mourning process I’ve already had for this mess. Back to this post.
2023 gave me huge insight into the people I surround myself with and the opportunity to deepen some relationships while releasing others.
All in all, it was my best year yet, so I will continue this leap of faith journey by sticking ONLY to the parts I can control.
The rest is up to Him.
I guess that’s my loose plan for 2024. I have ideas of where I want to be by the end of it so, I wrote down a few goals, prayed about them, created a daily and weekly to-do list to help achieve said goals and tucked the overall stuff away only to be revisited once a quarter so I don’t get overwhelmed.
I’m not sure what this year is going to bring outside of that but that’s the beauty of life, isn’t it? We never really know what’s going to happen until it does. We can only be as prepared as we can to face the good, the bad, the bold, the beautiful, the treacherous, the scary and the ugly with grace.
To anyone who’s reading this or seeing this. I want to encourage you not to worry. Just surrender. Surrender it all to God. Your relationships. Your finances. Your kids, if you have them, I don’t. Your animals, your pets, if you have them, I don’t. Your parents – I used to have mine, but they are working my nerves, so I surrendered them as well. Your siblings, your family, your worries, your anxiety, everything. Just surrender it all and embrace the relief that comes slowly but surely.
If you can embrace today, then you’ll be fine. Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow. Let the pages of your life – the new pages that you get – whether you get one or all 365 of the ones established in 2024, let God do the writing. He’ll write a better version of your story than you ever could.
—
Artist: Natasha Bedingfield
Song: Unwritten
Album: Unwritten
Release date: 2004
