The Three P’s of my 2016
When I first picked a pen to write about my 2016, I drifted so badly that the entire article became about the demise of my beloved mum. Well, I hope this pans out different. The great thing about having reviews is that they help you look back at previous things and make out ways or things you could have done better. Reviews also open your eyes to areas where you succeeded and areas where you failed, areas where you grew and areas that remained stagnant.
Right here are a couple of things I know I got right in 2016 —
Persistence/Resilience:
Don’t worry, these words are closely related. It is cliché to say you don’t know what you are good at till you try it. For me, it couldn’t be more true. At some point in my 2016, I felt I had to pursue my dreams of being a developer or I die. Everything at that point was pointing me towards — “You cannot do it”. From my busy schedule at work, to my ailing mum whom was always on my mind (of which I had to leave work for a few days to cater for) to the crash of my laptop, from inconsistent power supply to the cost of internet data. All these somehow connived to come upon me at once during that period. But the good news was that I had already made up mind that come what may, I will put in my all. I did exactly that. For the first time in a very long while, I didn’t quit. I found a way round all the obstacles and gave it my all. I put in the sweat and the blood, burnt the midnight oil (if there is still such a thing) and today I can proudly say that my persistence and resilience paid off. I would never have known how resilient I was, if I hadn’t tried. After all “I am not what happened to me.. I am what I choose to become.”
Preparation:
Another cliché I can proudly say played well in my 2016 was this — “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. If I wasn’t prepared for the opportunities that came my way, I would have been unlucky. Sometimes opportunities come for us to explore certain desires in our lives, and we miss these opportunities because we were not prepared for them, not because we didn’t deserve them. Even though contrary to popular opinion, opportunities come many times, we may keep missing them because we never took out time to prepare ourselves for when they finally come. The days I spent in limbo struggling to figure out how html tags and python variables work were the days I prepared myself for the scholarship opportunity at MEST. You see in 2015, I had applied to this same program, but didn’t make it at the final round. Of course, I blamed my village people but facing facts, I realized that I had to push myself more. By the time the same opportunity came in 2016, I was more prepared than I was in 2015, and my luck happened.
Perception:
In 2016 I learnt that; even though perception is not reality, how I perceive myself really matters. People treat you based on who they are, not necessarily who you are, but by the time you let others’ perception of you be the only truth you know, you are in for a ride. I needed to see myself for who I really was and the things I could do, so I changed the way I saw myself. I put on my confident alter ego and by the time I met new friends, everyone thought I was the extrovert. It is quite mind-blowing to see the things you can achieve when you have a shift in mindset.
Enough said, life is a learning process. I can’t wait to share what I’ll learn in 2017.
