VISION 2030

Today the 5th day of the 1st week of the 1st month of 2020 happens to be a very special day. It’s my birthday!

On this day, I’ve had the opportunity to sit back and reflect on my life.
Maya Angelou once said “If you don’t know where you are coming from, you don’t know where you are going. I have respect for the past but I choose to live in the moment. I’m here and I do my best to be centred at the place I am at. Then I move forward to the next place.”
Very well said Angelou, very well said!

So I have been reflecting on the journey.
While I like to feel 29…I’ve been 29 years old for quite a few years. Well, the truth is I’m 46 years today and I have never been more excited.

46 years of God’s favour and goodness.
46 years of learning and making mistakes and learning from them. 46 years of falling and getting up and dusting myself off!
46 years of exercising my patience muscle, resilience muscle, hard work muscle, love muscle, forgiveness muscle!! It’s a well practiced life and I have learnt a number of lessons that I’m happy to share with you.

1) Time goes by too fast.
Honestly it feels like just a few days ago when I was in my beautiful idyllic village running up and down the hills and valleys of western Uganda. I climbed mango trees, guava trees, orange trees and picked fruits for myself. I also climbed eucalyptus trees not to pick fruits but just because I could!
I walked without shoes until the age of 15 and I had one dress to wear to school on all the days of the week throughout primary school, which dress I washed on Saturday and then wore again on Sunday!
It feels like yesterday when I walked 3 kilometre each way to go to my secondary school and when I walked back every day with a boy accompanying me all the way. Sometimes it was the same boy for a week or a month but most times a different boy- not because they really cared about me but because we were teenagers and they just felt great accompanying a girl.
All this feels like it happened not long ago – but today I’m 46!
It is clear to me today that I need to do what I have to do now because time does not stand still. I have had years of memories to reflect on and now is another chance to write my story exactly the way I want it to read.

 

2) Life is about making choices.
There were many of us climbing trees in my village. There were many of us walking without shoes. There were many of us girls being walked home by boys from a secondary school class.
The choices we each made are what either empowered or disempowered each of us.
Choices continue to be the basis of how our lives unfold each day.
Today I’ve reflected on the my journey and realised how the choices I have made at different stages in my life have impacted who I am today.
The choice to remain in school even when I lacked every basic need. The choice to love God and rely on Him completely.
The choice of who I married.
The choice to keep growing myself in and outside of school.
The choice of how many children I chose to have.
The choice of how I go through the good and tough times in different areas of my life including work, family, marriage or finances.

Therefore, the choices I make today will certainly impact my next years.
It has come crystal clear to me that it’s all about choice!
The choice to work hard or the choice to be lazy.
The choice to trust God or not. The choice to love my family or not.
The choice to save or not.
The choice to engage in positive behaviour or not.
The choice to have positive friends or negative friends.
It all about choice!

 

3) I have 100% responsibility for my life and for who I become.
No one else can choose for me – or for you the life that I or you want to live -my life, my choice!
No one can eat healthy food for me.
No one can wake up early for me.
No one can exercise for me.
No one can read for me.
No one can love for me.
No one can forgive for me.
It’s me. I have 100% responsibility for my life and I choose to stand up for what I’m capable of doing and doing it against all odds!
What this means is that I have no one to blame for my failures but me. It me who should give myself permission to fall forward, to rise again when I fall, to dance in the rain.
It’s me- and you, who should ride the tide in our lives and get to our destination against all odds!!
There is also nothing to complain about. This does not mean that I’m in oblivion of the political, economic, social and environmental issues that are affecting the world today. However, I recognize that complaining doesn’t add value. Unless I’m going to voice my issues to someone who can do something about them, then there is no point.
On a personal level, I do not want to make these issues an excuse for not pushing past the limitations that are set up against me.

It is my duty to be aware of these limitations and push through them without any apology.
I won’t apologise for working hard.
I won’t apologise for being smart.
I won’t apologise for being happy.
I won’t apologise for identifying my opportunities and maximizing on them.
I won’t apologise for loving myself.
I won’t apologise for being me! I will leverage my personal abilities and become the best version of me and I will not complain or blame anyone else if I don’t.
I have 100% responsibility for my life and wellbeing. For my growth and development. For my health, spirituality, peace of mind, joy and quality of life.
It’s not my husband, my children, my family, my business, my relatives, the government, the Economy.
It’s no one else but me that will determine the quality of my life.

 

4) It’s also my responsibility to CLARIFY MY VISION.
I have lived 46 years and when I think about it, in the next 46 years I’ll be 92! This sounds funny, scary and exciting all at the same time.
But for now, let me focus on this decade – the next ten years.
What do I want to achieve (VISION) in this decade?
How do I want to achieve this Vision(Strategy)
What steps do I want to take (goals) in order to accomplish this vision.
What resources (money, people, information, networks, technology) do I need to accomplish what I’m out to accomplish in this decade.
What areas of my life do I want to focus on in order to live the most optimum life in this decade?
What measures do I have in place to overcome obstacles?

I invite you to engage with these questions for your own life and to move forward purposefully because time lost is never regained.