A Year of Setbacks, Mindset Shifts, and Second Chances

Looking back at the resolutions I laid down for this year and how far I've come towards actualizing them, I can't help but be grateful for growth, life, and hope that when there's life, then the possibility to achieve them is still on. The year has been a rollercoaster with different ups and downs, but overall I'm grateful for how far I've come despite all of the setbacks. I know it's all part of the bigger picture that shapes my experiences. I'd say I entered this year somewhat unprepared and without a clear-cut laid-out plan for what I wanted to do or achieve, but despite that, it's been one of the best years of my existence.

Like I said above, I didn't have a clear-cut resolution or plan for this year; in fact, while writing an article about my resolution for 2025, it was more like I was drawing inspiration from someone else's goals. No wonder it was quite difficult for me to actualize many of the things I adopted from other people's plans, and then I went on to realize some of my lifelong desires that weren't even in the resolution I wrote earlier this year.

On the top of the list of the good things that happened to me this year, to many it might seem strange, but to me it's a big win, and it has to do with a change of mindset about a particular aspect of life. I won't really want to go into details, but the mindset I've been living my life with in the past six years is one that has deprived me of various opportunities, growth, and the like. But despite people around me trying their best to make me change my mind, I wasn't yielding, but then thankfully one thing led to another this year, and I had a change of heart, and I can't help but say that the last few months have been awesome and a testament to what those around me have been trying to make me see in the past.

Talking about the bad part of the year, thanks to my creator, I haven't necessarily had a terrible time to deal with this year, but then one of the things that breaks my heart and makes me feel bad this year has to do with how I broke a vow I made to myself about something. It has to do with betting. You see, I was never a bet addict, but after seeing how it ruined someone's life during my undergraduate days, I resolved within myself to quit and never play again, and for the last ten years I've been faithful to that vow. But earlier this year a close friend of mine played a bet and won about three million Naira, and this made me break my vow because I was eager to win some millions myself. After about a week of playing, I realized my mistake and stopped, but I felt bad about it.

Like I said earlier, most of my New Year's resolutions were merely a copycat of other people's goals, and so I didn't achieve the majority of them, but the good part is that I don't really feel bad about it, and that's because I was able to search within my heart during the course of the year and not only chase after new goals but also achieve them or currently be on the course to making them a reality. What made this possible was that I realized my mistake on time, acted on it, and was also lucky to surround myself with individuals who fed me with the right kind of advice needed at each point in time. So if I were to talk about what hinders me from achieving the resolutions I laid down at the beginning of the year, I'd say it's because they weren't actually mine in the first place.

All photos are mine.