How we see things matters and it influences our decisions because what we see or think determines how we see life and then go on to live it. There was a joke back then about a man who they said never laughed or prayed. He didn't dance, he never cried neither did he play. Then a day came when he died so his insurance was denied because they claimed he never really lived so how can someone who didn't live die? Living is to experience the highs and the lows. No one can live long enough and not experience some moments of sadness, it's not possible. The downsides we experience in life are part of the whole essence of life - we either pick the lessons and move on or we cave in to fear and stop living.
We can all be looking at the same thing and still see different things to it depending on who we are, how we grew up, what we have been exposed to and what we have trained our minds to think. What we have is often a product of who we are that's why many people said who we are is greater than what we have. Most of the time, we need to intentionally step back to see things differently because we know that holding on to the negatives won't achieve anything meaningful for us.
Many years ago I read about the Grand Canyon. I will explain it in my own words so I won't have to be quoting someone else's work. I heard that the Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon that was designed and craftily carved by the Colorado River in the United States (we can also look this up) - it's in Arizona in North America.
We have three people who stood there at the edge - we had an artist, a pastor and also a cowboy and they all stop there to admire the magnificent piece and edifice. As they all stood there to admire this amazing edifice, they all exclaimed at different times based on what they perceived of it as a result of who they are, how they grew up and what they have known. The truth is, what we have been used to overtime would naturally kick in and that's why we just have to deliberately choose to live. It doesn't mean that perspective is wrong but it is to help us enjoy life instead of worrying and also seek solutions rather than moping around.
The first person to exclaim was the artist because of his craft he shouted, "This is a beautiful scene to paint." The pastor had his say too as he blurted, "This is a beautiful example of God's handiwork and the display of His craftsmanship." The cowboy looked around and he exclaimed, "What a terrible place to lose a cow."
What each person has gotten used to played out in their minds which influenced their perspective into what they can see. That's how life works because your view would shape what you see and what you see would influence your eventual outcome. When others are focused on beauty, the cowboy alone focused on the problem. It's not his fault to have his thoughts fixed that way because it was influenced by who he is but we have the choice to see things differently.
A lot of things has been said about the ember months. Most people only see the evil in these months and they dread the things to happen so much that they stopped living. Maybe by pattern, we record a lot of accidents during the December period because we have a high movement of people travelling for the festivity at that time and as we all know, most of Nigeria's roads are not bad but terrible - in a dilapidated state.
The ember months are not terrible but they are just like any other month too where a lot can happen, where either good or bad things can happen. Don't we have people who died in months other than the ember months? Don't we have people who had a car accident in other months other than the ember months? Don't we have those who got their first car, hit their first million, held their favourite tokens and even got help in the ember months? Don't we have those who sealed multimillion naira or dollar deals in the same ember months? Of course, we do...
It all depends on how we are seeing things or how we choose to see things. I've always viewed the ember months as the months where you have to double your efforts to achieve at least things you were unable to achieve earlier in the year. It's the last phase of the year and most people would want to end the year on a high... I definitely want to end the year on a high.
I know a lot of people who moved to their house during the December period because they wanted to start the new year in their new apartment so the last phase of the year was a finishing to what was built up over the previous months. Everything worked together for everyone in the end. What you see is what you get and that's the truth. We shouldn't get tired of staying optimistic because, in the end, it plays out well for us.
Stop allowing fear to hold you back from living and fulfilling your dreams. You can achieve a lot more in these ember months as you could have with any other month. We carve out our reality in this life and no one can carve it out for us. We are responsible for how we turn out not some already planned events. Our choices and what we choose to do would determine what we can achieve or won't achieve. Inactions would be the undoing of many others, not even the ember months.
This is life and this has nothing to do with the fact that my birthday is this month. That is how life has always been even before we were born and after we are gone, that's how life would be until the end of everything. Never allow anyone to cage you into fear and make you hold back. Do all that you have in your heart to do even if it's the ember months. A lot of people held so many things from being done because they fear the ember months. Don't be like one of those people who think success can only be achieved at a particular month and maybe it has worked for them which still buttressed my point that we are a product of how we think by the virtue of how we choose to see things.
Choose to see things differently because your life and other people's lives depend on it.
Thank you for your time.
We havr different perspective depends our situation and how life form us and teach to us buts still we can be in one perspectuive if we are following the will of God in our lives.