In the past, I was heavily involved New Year resolutions ritual. The famous writer, Brian Tracy, advised that we should think on paper. In other words, write your dreams and resolutions down so that you don’t forget them, so I wrote them down. I also read many books on positive thinking and I was advised to visualize my dreams, so I painted or took photos of all I wanted and posted them on the wall of my room so that I could see them regularly.
These are good, but there must be a good plan in place and determination to bring them to reality. I still believe in all these, but as I grow older, I have fully come to realise that New Year resolutions differ depending on your age, health status, financial situation, etc.
One of the New Year resolutions of a focused student will be to improve on his grade. A graduate, on the other hand, wants to get a job. Those already working might want better paying and more secure jobs. Many people want financial prosperity.
But the priority of those with health challenges is good health. When you are dealing with health challenges, you get to understand that saying that “health of wealth.” Without good health, you are hampered looking for wealth. Even the wealth you have accumulated can evaporate over time. When people talk of locusts as devourers, it is personified in ill health. Some people who were once very rich or comfortable have been pauperized by ill health. Their number one wish in the New Year is good health. Whatever your situation is hope and work towards a fruitful 2025.
Many people do not understand the enormity of the word HOPE. I was speaking with a friend when I started writing this article today (December 31, 2024). I told him that “I know 2024 has been very rough for you, but I believe you will come good in 2025 because you are a restless and hardworking young man brimming with youthful energy and ideas.
Be hopeful. I know you fully understand what hope means. You lost your first wife early in life. You remember the hopelessness you felt seeing her lifeless body. I know because I have also experienced the same hopelessness seeing the lifeless body of a loved one. You have life, so shake off 2024 and brace up for 2025.”
The same applies to all of us: shake off the hardships, disappointments and unfulfilled dreams of 2024 and brace up for 2025. As I was writing the article, someone handling an important assignment for me disappointed me at the last minute.
Rather than be angry and desolate, I decided to look for alternatives. This led me to a solution provider, who not only solved the problem but opened new doors and opportunities for me to do similar tasks in the future. In 2025, see disappointments as a gateway to new opportunities. Task your brain to think deeper. Also seek out solution providers.
They make life easier and pleasurable for you. People who know me know that I avoid people with negative vibes. Avoid people who are writing another book of lamentations. The current economic situation is tough no doubt, but why should I privatize the challenges of a whole nation?
Moreover, 200m Nigerians must eat. They need shelter. Nigeria is not yet a nudist country, so they need to be clothed. There are myriad of problems and myriad of opportunities abound. Become a solution provider.
We should also all look for useful activities to become better and improve on what we are already doing. Some people are so consumed with anger and hatred for elected government officials and environment that I wonder when they have time to think about how to make their lives better. Please focus on your life. When 2027 comes, let your voter’s card be your weapon and be part of those who will ensure votes count and vote out those you don’t want. Your current lamentations are self-destructive.
In addition, I maintain that life is simple. That is why we all came into the world naked. That is also partly why Muslims bury their dead same day or the next day in the simplest fashion. In 2025, avoid people who make life look complicated or difficult.
These days, when I meet such people, I scarcely hide my anger or irritation. English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc., are all simple subjects. It’s bad teachers who made them complicated and largely made us to hate these subjects in school. We should learn from those early mistakes.
As a policy, I have stopped grudging people who are not keeping in touch. Everybody is dealing with issues. I don’t know the issues they are dealing with. When people apologise for not being in touch, I tell them they do not owe me any apologies because I don’t know what they are going through. In the same vein, do not grudge me if you don’t hear from me because you don’t know what I am going through. If you grudge me, you are wasting your time. As humans, we inadvertently or out of overreaction offend people. For such people I am sorry.
I will continue to treasure people I consider assets and prune liabilities from my life. Assets are people who add value to your life or make living meaningful to you. I am talking of people who make you come alive, solution providers, mentors, people who teach you life lessons deliberately or inadvertently; people who show love and care, etc.
Liabilities are selfish people, people who try to make you less human, people who don’t have your time. Prune them out of your life. You don’t need them. God created all of us mortals. That makes all of us dispensable. Only God, the omnipotent, is indispensable. Do not let any one play God in your life. Put them behind you. It will shock you the speed with which they will become residual in your life. You will be scrolling through your phone, when you see their names, you will exclaim, “this na one person too! Na so life just be.
Continue to take good care of your health. Do exercises that suit your circumstances. Sedentary life is dangerous. Eat healthy. Do things in moderation. There is one life. Live it sensibly to the full. Get closer to God. Happy New Year.
DELTA STATE GOVT CLOSES OKUAMA IDP CAMP
The Delta State Government formally closed the Okuama IDP Camp in Ewu seven months after the State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, inaugurated it May 27, 2024, as a temporary shelter for displaced indigenes of the Okuama community following the destruction of the entire community by the Nigerian military over the killing of 17 military personnel by unknown gunmen around the community riverbank.
But the Chairman of the IDP Management Committee, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo, who announced the closure of the camp on behalf of the state government said committee will now move into post-camp duty, which he said is to rebuild the destroyed community.
The camp was opened with about 1,500 displaced persons, but there were less than 60 at the time it was closed. The camp comprised mainly of children and women. Families have been separated and it is just right that the families are reunited to begin the New Year.
The Ogbodo-led committee did a marvelous job, but there is still a lot left to be done and the committee should focus fully on rebuilding Okuama now that the camp is closed.