Happy New New Year once again my lovely people! I hope we're still basking in the euphoria season of the new year. We're not taking it lightly in my neighborhood over here. The holiday has not ended, children are still very much around rulling the neighborhood with beautiful appearances.
Everywhere is still bubbling and colourful. Music is still being played in every corner and fireworks are still doing their jobs in the sky. Relatives and friends are still popping in and out to felicitate with one another. Above all, aroma of sumptuous meals from various households are still in the air. It has really been a lit atmosphere!
However, I told myself, nobody put a new wine in an old wineskin. It's a new year that must usher in new things. I really need to make some changes in my lifestyle to have a better result this year. Nobody does a thing in the same way and expects a different result. While the just concluded year was great, I realized there were things I should have done otherwise. In that year, I accommodated a lot of things including those that shouldn't have been accommodated. I said 'yes' to almost everything last year, even at my own detriment. That would definitely change in the year 2025. One biggest change I will embrace is 'not saying yes where I am meant to say no'. This seems a little thing but it will make a huge difference in my life. Often times, I say yes to people's proposals even when it is not convenient for me, just because I don't want to turn them down. I so much worry about what others will say while I neglect the repercussions of those actions on me. I tend to prioritize people's happiness over mine, which has not been that helpful.
Sometime last year, my husband and I rented a new apartment and we decided to move in a week after. We however found a deep freezer in the apartment which actually belonged to the landlady of the house.
The house is a story building, the owner of the house and his family are living upstairs while we rented the downstairs. So, when we moved me in, my husband suggested we asked them to take their freezer to their apartment upstairs but I was thinking, they might say we're hostile. After few weeks, the landlady started knocking our door to put things in the freezer that is in our apartment. The worst thing was she could knock at anytime of the day or night. She didn't care whether we were having our private moments as couple or not. She would just knock the door rudely and expected us to open for her to come in. On a particular day that I cannot forget, she came knocking at our door at 4am in the morning while we were yet asleep that she wanted to put something in the freezer. We became so frustrated that we were looking for a polite way to ask her to take her fridge to her apartment.
The last straw that broke the camel's back was the day she knocked and brought in some drinks for sale in my own apartment, like she wanted to turn my sitting room to a shop where people come to buy things while she enjoyed her peace upstairs. It was like a dream. She arranged the soft drinks in the freezer, went out to put a placard at the gate that she now sells chilled soft drinks and came back to me that I should be helping her sell the soft drinks in case anyone wanted to buy. What a gut! Was it that she thought I didn't have a job, because I actually work from home. I became so furious that I couldn't wait for my husband to arrive before I went to tell her to please come and take the freezer to her apartment. Then, she stopped greeting me and started keeping malice with me. That was how far humans can go to take one's kindness for granted. Had it been I had not welcome the idea from the beginning, saying yes to what I should have said no to, it wouldn't have got to that point.
Hence, this year, my motto is 'do not say yes when you mean to say no' at least for my own peace and sanity. I'm sure this change will make a huge difference in my life. It will make me firm in my decision making and also get joy while I make others happy. It's a new year; a new season. I pray this year bring us joy, peace and usher us into our greatness in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks for reading.
All photos are mine.