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Happy New Year!!

Writer's picture: Kingsley NwabiaKingsley Nwabia

Updated: Jan 9, 2022

To say that most people are/have been living/experiencing tough times for a while now (for the last 22 months actually) is an understatement of epic proportions. More so for Artists of all sorts and entrepreneurs.

It hasn’t been funny.


I, like most, have been dealing with/living through a period so bizarre, so incomprehensible, that were it not for the fact that this whole covid problem was global, I’d swear my ‘village people’ had finally found me! (That’s a Nigerian expression by the way) 😊.


Now I’m no stranger to hardship and rough times. My life story is literally littered with those, and up till now I’ve managed to ‘chest’ them all and come out stronger and wiser on the other side.

But this is quite different.

It’s as if the universe itself had conspired with fate and all powers & Principalities to ensure I was wrapped up in a web so fiendish that I could no longer tell my left from my right.

From March 2020, the proverbial rug was pulled out from under me so unexpectedly, feels like it took my legs up to my knees with it.

All of a sudden, I couldn’t do what I loved and gave me my sense of purpose anymore (working with my students), income went out the window, had to divert all my spiritual and psychological energy to just keep calm.

But this is the beginning of a new year and along with that comes a new opportunity to have a new outlook.


Now let’s not B.S. ourselves, this covid situation is still gonna be hovering around all of us, but I for one am tired of it all, and I just have to get back to living, and many out there I’m sure, feel the same way.

Even my art creating process has suffered, as it seems to take so much more out of me to be able to create a painting these days, plus the bills never cease and the debts just keep rising (Shout out to all my saviours who've shown up at different points to help me keep standing and shine a heavenly light upon me when things got really dark You know who you are! I am grateful and I’ll never forget your kindness towards me.). My stress level got so high I could literally see & feel my body physically breaking down from it, and for this, I have just one group of people to blame! ……………………….Motivational Speakers!!! =))))))


Seriously!!


I know it's par for the course especially at the beginnings of a new year and all that, but after the near insufferable bombardments of such motivational speakers over the last two years, if I hear one more ‘Get up, get out there and seize your destiny’ or You have to adapt and invest in (whatever), or ‘Leave where you are and your troubles and just travel’ kinda B.S., I WILL HAVE A COW!!!!

Honest to God it drives me insane!


Now I know a lot of people/businesses have actually flourished in these pandemic times, (I mean only a couple of years back people were all over toilet paper like it was gold. People were hoarding beans, and for a brief period you couldn’t find baking-yeast to save your life! And for a brief period, anyone in that biz made a killing!) but that was basically all down to luck. No one could have predicted how the world was gonna go in early 2020, and when the lockdowns came and the sh*t really hit the fan, a lot of people the world over found themselves…. What expression can I use…… yeah! ‘Up the creek without a paddle!’

And while many were reeling from the floodgates of life-blows raining on them relentlessly, here comes the motivational speakers with their quotes, vague formulas for success, suspicious stories of how they overcame their challenges etc, and sort of making everyone feel like they were not trying hard enough to turn their situations around, not taking into consideration that a vast majority were blindsided by events, lost everything, simply did not have a clue what to do and were deep into mental breakdown territory. Plus the situation was so out of any individuals control and for the most part, majority found themselves in their situations through no faults of their own!


It's as if these motivational peddlers, could not understand that ‘one size does not fit all’, individual situations vary, and what works for one will not necessarily work for another. Not everyone could get on Tik-Tok or Only fans and become an influencer.

Not everyone could up and invest in whatever crypto fad that was the rage. (It’s like they forget you need to actually have capital to be able to invest or restart a business after suddenly losing a lot due to the pandemic. It’s crazy!)

And I’m not the only one who felt/feels this way, as many people the world over, declared ‘open season’ on motivational speakers and basically tuned out.


Jeez! Some of the motivational quotes I’ve seen are just ridiculous when you stop to think about them.

For example, there’s the popular one of visualizing who you see yourself to be or want to be(or something like that) and its usually with a picture of a house cat looking at a giant mirror and it’s reflection is either a large tiger or a lion. Each time I saw one of those, I just think to myself ‘ so this house cat by the power of belief, can now be dropped in the savannah and it will take down a buffalo because it saw the effects of an acid trip in the mirror’s reflection? Ha!!! I laugh in Swahili!


Please don’t get me wrong, words of encouragements are important and are helpful, I know this firsthand, but they must be given within the context of the receiver’s current realities and situation.


Anyhoo, for this year I am my own motivator for only I(and God) know my hearts true desire and the true condition and situation of my life, and even though I have to start again from scratch, it's up to me to find my way to get back on my chosen life path. By myself, because it is just that…it’s my life and I know what I want from it. Will it turn out how I hope even if I make detailed plans and follow them to the letter? Lord only knows! But 2020 showed us how easily through no fault of own, our lives and plans could so easily turn upside down. But we keep moving.


So as we begin this year, if your life has been a circus for the past two years, try to get it back in order but on your own terms and at your own pace.

Them sanctimonious motivational peeps can go fly a kite!


2022! Let's go!!!


Till the next blog post, take care and stay safe!


Also if you wanna support my works(and my continuing life adventure), pls consider getting one of my awesome t-shirts, or prints or art! Every sale helps/counts!


Cheers!

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