Value your self!

Life takes you through various tangents, from valleys to mountains and back to valleys, the cycle of life can take toll on the traveler that you sometimes forget why you are on this journey and begin to adapt to the experiences life brings your way and sometimes you forget who you really are and why you are on this journey………..

I once read a research that said that what makes Human beings the most superior specie on the earth is our ability to adapt. We have transitioned from the Garden of Eden, to living as cave men, from that period to using the earth’s raw materials to create food, clothing and shelter. We have moved beyond that stage to inventions and innovations that have created the earth we live in today. Adaptability or adaptation is a positive development, and so it can also be a negative development; especially when the processes of pain and disappointments have led us to adapt to adapt to a life that is less than ideal. Life’s challenges might have made us stronger, but in some cases it has killed our spirit and made us forget who we really are.

I got off the phone yesterday with a friend who challenged the giant in me, she provoked me to take a more critical look at my life and in doing so; I was reminded of the essence of how I began this race: It started with me asking the question; who am I? Why am I here? and what is my value to the earth? I reminisced about what I learnt all those years ago that life almost stole from me; I reminded myself that I am made in the image and likeness of an amazing and power God. And the more I meditated on this thought, the more I learnt why I must place more value on myself. When you look in the mirror, what you see is an image of yourself. So if I am made in the image of a superior being, that means I am just like him! And that’s the same for you too and that’s why you have to place more value on our self.

How do you place more value on yourself?

1.      Love yourself: Self love is a tricky concept depending on what side of upbringing you are coming from. To some people, self love means self indulgence and to some others self love is a foreign concept as they have been thought not to thinking to highly of themselves. Love yourself means appreciate YOU. Thank the almighty for making you in his image. Celebrate all the wonderful gifts and talents that you have been bestowed with. Appreciate every intricate detail of your ‘Earth suit’ and let your heart be filled with joy and gladness that you are fearfully and wonderfully made! Love yourself.

2.      Forgive yourself: We have all failed one way or the other! Yes that’s the truth. Don’t beat yourself up too much for your past failures no matter what they were. Failure is not final, the important thing is that we learn from our past mistakes, pick ourselves up again and keep moving. Have you goofed in the past? Or done something you are not proud of? Forgive yourself! Give yourself another chance and don’t give up on you, because you still have many chances in life to succeed again. You are work in progress, forgive yourself and keep living!

3.      Accept yourself: So you look at the mirror and you see an image that has it flaws right? Well welcome to the real world where no one is perfect!( read my post titled let go of the shame and live). Accept how you are made and know that the traits you inherited genetically were not by accident. God who decided to make you as noisy or as quiet as you are or as big boned or slim framed as you are did not make a mistake. He gave you the perfect earth suit he thought you needed to fulfill your purpose. What if your earth suit (body) has gone through voluntary or involuntary damages like child birth, accidents or illnesses? The he want to use just the way you are flaws and all! I watched and read the inspirational story of Nick Vujicic, A man born without arms and legs (you can Google him). He is living a great life despite all his challenges; he travels the world to motivate people and he is married with a son. Accept yourself! And continue to be the best version of yourself you can be! You are just fine.

4.      Discover yourself: When we travel, we try to learn as much about the place we go to, especially if it’s a new place. Treat yourself like a treasure box and discover who you are. Let every discovery be a revelation that helps you to know yourself some more. What do you like? What do you love? What do you dislike? What makes you happy? What makes you sad? What are your dreams? What are your aspirations? What sort of life would you like to live if you had no limits? What are you on earth for? The more you discover yourself, the more special you feel, and the more value you place on YOU!

My purpose prayer to help me discover myself more goes thus: God of glory, make me intelligent and discerning in knowing you personally, my eyes focused and clear, so that I can see exactly what it is you are calling me to do. Adapted from Ephesians 1: 17-18 message translation.

5.    Live your life to the fullest: Yes! now you are learning to love you, to forgive you, to accept you and you are discovering you! Live life to its fullest and live each day creating the life of your dreams. There would still be tough times, but don’t let them change you, don’t let them define you, keep moving forward and keep your value up. And you would live the best life from today forever!

This is my message to me today and I am going to apply it, I hope you do the same………….

Stay Empowered,

Tale.

P.S Please follow me on twitter @taleofrecreatio I do my best to share inspirational thoughts

I really appreciate your comments. They let me know if you are being blessed, inspired or empowered. Also share this article with others so that the blessing would flow….

STEPS TO LIVE A BETTER QUALITY LIFE!

I did a wardrobe audit this morning, and I brought out clothes that I had not worn in a long time and decided to sort them out into two piles; the first pile contained clothes that I still loved but were a bit too tight, but I insist on keeping them because I believe one day soon (weight loss journey…) I would be able to fit into them again. The second pile contained clothes that I have either over worn because I loved them too much, so they had lost some color or clothes that I never really wore because they really never fit me.  I gave them to my nanny because she always insists that she has many friends and relatives who would appreciate them.

She teased me about the clothes I had over-worn and said when I loved something a lot, I used up all the value in it very quickly by wearing it over and over again. I thought about it for some time and realized that though she had a point; it was not a balanced perspective. The quality or durability of something is not always in direct relation to the usage of that thing. So for example; I can buy 100naira bathroom slippers the same day I buy a 50,000 naira bag, because I used both items constantly during a particular duration, does not mean they would both get spoiled at the same time, the quality of each product would determine how long it would last.

This has made me realize that good quality is really a long term investment. So what are the steps to help us live a better quality life?

1.      Take audit of your current life circumstances: The word ‘better’ suggests that there is something more to aspire towards. You would not be able to determine how far you still need to go, if you are not sure of how far you have come. What areas of your life do you still aspire to be more, do more or have more? Be sincere with yourself and take stock, so that you can decide what needs to be done. I just did a self audit about my weight; I always used to complain that I exercised a lot and was not losing weight, but I took stock of my eating habit and realized that I also had to eat right to see results. So now I have no more excuses, I have to fix my eating habit. Take audit of your life and be truthful to yourself.

                                                                                     

2.      Make a life changing decision: Every day, we make decisions about various things, as an adult, decision making is a familiar process. However, we need to make life changing to see life changing impact. Some life changing decisions that can shake your life could include:

a.       Deciding not to eat a certain food(s) again eg soda, diary some people even go to the extent of deciding not to eat poultry again and embrace a vegetarian lifestyle, these kinds of decisions can change the quality of your health and weight for good.

b.      Deciding to follow/pursue your dreams no matter the cost- I made this decision about 5 years ago and sincerely it has been a rocky and interesting road! Its not easy to leave a stable and well paying job to do something else because you had an epiphany and decided this is what you were born to do. But it is a life changing decision, which could affect your earning power positively or negatively and affect you fulfillment too. My own fulfillment bank is brimming full; I am waiting for the money bank to catch up!

c.       Deciding to make God the center of your life-This is indeed a life changing decision because it would adversely affect the course of your life. It would determine how you live, what your values are, what you stand for and what your life purpose is. This decision would test your moral standing especially in this tough world that we live in. However it is a key step to live a quality life.

d.      Deciding to break off some relationships or build some others- The quality of our lives is really affected by the people we closely relate with. We might need to make a drastic decision to cut off some people from our lives to enable us move forward and live a better quality life. Cut of people who are sowing negative seeds into your eye or ear gates, cut of people who are dream killers or suppressors. Some of these people may be close family relations who you don’t want to stop talking too completely, but you can decide to reduce their influence in your life. Then build relationships with people who would challenge you to be better and greater. Invest in relationships with successful people who you aspire to be like and who are willing to share their knowledge with you.

3.      Follow through on your decision(s): Now you have audited your life and decided to make life changing decisions in some areas; you have to commit to the decisions you have made. Sometimes the process of following through would take you out of your comfort zone and sometimes you would falter, but pick yourself back up and get back on track and these changes would lead to a more fulfilling and quality life.

I am on a journey to creating a better quality life for myself and my loved ones and it’s an interesting learning journey. Hope you make the same decision and take the steps too…

Stay Empowered,

Tale.

P.S Please follow me on twitter @taleofrecreatio I do my best to share inspirational thoughts

I really appreciate your comments. They let me know if you are being blessed, inspired or empowered. Also share this article with others so that the blessing would flow….

Choose a Quality Life!

It is getting harder for me to write! Because every time I write, I challenge myself to practice what I preach. So I am living in motion these days; I am going after my dreams, reaching out for more and walking/working to become the best me by God’s grace. I hope that as you read each article, you are being inspired to do the same.

I grew up craving for better quality. Better quality clothes, better quality food, better quality friends and even better quality men! It was always a case of cut your coat according to your cloth, and sometimes the clothes never seemed to be enough to me or never seemed to be in the fabric I wanted. It was a constant struggle for me until I resigned to being content with what I had till I could get what I wanted.

Life and seasons have changed and now I can afford to get a few of the things I really want, but it has also made me question what really is ‘Quality’? Is quality the most expensive of the thing you want? Or is it the rarer or limited edition of the things we want? Is quality really determined by price or by taste, these are the thoughts I joggle in my mind.

I was with my manufacturer in Istanbul last week and we were considering fabrics for the new collection we are currently working on, I was suggesting that we should look for a lower quality fabric to enable us maintain our current sales price, instead of the obvious option of increasing prices, but my meticulous manufacturer vehemently opposed this idea, She insisted that they prided themselves in working with 100% quality fabrics and I finally succumbed to her persuasion, but it got me thinking of life in general and the compromises we constantly make for or against quality.

How many times have you been under pressure on your job to make a choice between letting things slip or putting in the extra time? Or between settling for a partner who if all things were equal you would not choose, but you would rather wait it out hoping that the future would bring better options? All these are decisions that are driven by our perspective of quality.

I have come to realize that quality is driven not by the cost of a thing, but by the value you can derive from it. So you need a shoe, a good quality shoe to some one can only be one that carries a designer label, why to another, a good quality shoe is determined by durability and not by brand name, although sometimes a good brand connotes good quality.

Quality for me has even transcended the choices I make for material things, to the choices I am constantly making for immaterial things like the quality of my thoughts, the quality of my relationships, the quality of life I live. Quality for me is now determined by how much I respect and value myself as a person.

I told a friend the other day that she should quit smoking( No judgement on people’s habits o!) my greatest point of note to her is that no matter the stress relieve she derived from smoking, it did not compare to how much she was devaluing her body or choosing a lower quality lifestyle. I challenged her to find other ways to deal with stress that would increase the quality of her life. And that’s my challenge to you!

How do you live a better quality life? I would share that next time, I have to run……….

Stay Empowered,

Tale.

P.S Please follow me on twitter @taleofrecreatio I do my best to share inspirational thoughts

I really appreciate your comments. They let me know if you are being blessed, inspired or empowered. I am also willing to answer your questions, so please keep sharing and share this article with others….