2011: Faded Year?

Welcome to March 31, 2011, the day that ushers us to April 1, or as we say, April fool’s day.

I am not certain if I like April fool’s day. I fall constantly for the  pranks that my parents play on this day. Last year, I finally scored one up on them, and the weird thing is that I didn’t get to enjoy the success of my prank. I live in Texas and it’s an Oil state. I called my parents up and told them that Shell had asked my husband and I to sell our land to them for 5 million dollars because they had discovered oil there. As expected, they were ectastic over the news. Trust me, it was no fun telling them an hour later that it was all April fool’s day inspired.  I can still remember both of them sobbing over the phone when they realized it was a joke 🙂

So, we are moving on to the fourth month of 2011. For me, as it is for most, the newness of 2011 has completely faded. We have entered the phase of the “meat” of the year. From now until September/October, as we enjoy the seasons of spring and summer, bustling activities will demand for our attention. From here on, no one is thinking of the New Year or the next year coming.  

Some of us entered 2011 with lots of hope and dreams. We probably had all these big plans. Suddenly, from nowhere, bad news called, killing the excitement of the New Year. In my case, it was hearing the news that a loved uncle had cancer. It simply overwhelmed me emotionally.

 I know of people who have had their 2011 marred by death, loss of a job, poor finances, foreclosures, sickness, and other occurrences that happened unexpectedly. I also know of others whom good news visited, like the birth of a child, or the start of a new job, or plans to get married. Nonetheless, the thing with good news is that it brings its own set of challenges, as you struggle with how to cope with the positive changes. For the new mother, it is the frequent awakenings to feed the baby; for the person with the new job, it is the challenge of meeting up to expectation. Whichever category you fall in, you suddenly find yourself remembering that you had New Year resolutions  and expectations. You find yourself wondering at everything that has happened this year, and you compare them to the dreams and hopes for 2011. It suddenly seems like a far cry from what you thought this year was going to be. You rapidly feel beleaguered with what is happening to you and your world. The temptation to marinate in the melancholy is very strong. Yet, you can’t afford to be weighed down. You know that you’ll have to stand up, shake the gloomy air off and be encouraged. Why? Because the world has not ended simply because you are worn-out. Because there is just so much at stake, with so much to do, with others counting on you to get things done. Because the battle is not over until it is over.

You may not have  control over when your current ordeal started, but you sure have control on how you will deal with it. To deal  with this successfully, you’ll need to  place yourself on time out and go to a quiet place to reflect. Through your personal reflections,  you’ll seek to understand how you fought your past challenges – both the ones you won and the ones you failed.  Then, you’ll harness yourself to face your current predicament with the tools you used to win the past battles. You’ll try hard to avoid making the mistakes that caused you to lose the battles you didn’t do so well. You’ll do this because as you enter April, you realize the importance of replenishing and regrouping… to tell yourself that if you can win battles in the past, then you sure can win this one too.

From my heart to your heart, have an awesome April…conquering every giant in your land, even as I conquer mine!

P.S: Here is some good news I know we  can all deal with. You can now get a copy of my latest book, Love at Dawn, at Lulu with a 20% discount off the listed price. Use coupon code Splish. Click Here to be directed to Love at Dawn’s page.