Beatrice Schultz

Hello August 

What do you do when the life you have always known completely changes? 

When the ideas and hopes you had for your life do not come to pass? 

How do you know that you need to keep trying or walk away and move on? 

Ever had that desire to become or attain something and no matter how hard you try, it somehow doesn’t work out? 

You push, you pray, you hope, you believe and yet nothing. 

This could be applying for your dream job to finding a life partner. 

Nothing makes the heart more sick than hope deferred.

Coming to the realization that that the life you had planned for yourself is not what you are currently living and might not come to pass at all can leave a lot of us feeling down.

When I started my business I was bright eyed and full of expectations. 

I had the concept, I had done my market analysis, I had ensured that the offerings were meeting a need and solving a problem.

When I launched I thought my calendar would be booked till 2025 . Yet alas that didn’t happen.

Clients didn’t come right away; some came and didn’t pay. Some came and then started doing exactly what I do (now that’s a conversation for another day). 

The reality is that success in life is not a linear journey. There will be many dips and turns and trips and falls. There will be times when you feel like giving up, and there will be times when you don’t understand why you even started. 

So back to our first question, how do you know when to give up or continue pushing? 

When something is an innate desire or passion, the will yo attain it will not go away. 

That’s when you have to go back to the drawing board and re asses the plan. 

There are many ways to get from Windhoek to Swakopmund. If one route isn’t working, take the other. You don’t throw the whole trip away. 

1. Forgive yourself for the mistakes you made that may have contributed to the delays. 
2. Mourn the idea of what you thought the journey would be. It’s ok to be sad about something not going according to what you had hoped it to be. 
3. Accept where you are and assess the resources you do have to keep going. 
4. Put up realistic goals and milestones for yourself, remember to review these goals. Nothing is cast in stone, it’s ok to change your mind. 
5. Be grateful for how far you have come and praise yourself for your achievement. 
6. Dust yourself off and start again. 

Nothing hurts more than a dream not coming to pass, but a prayer delayed is not a prayer denied. Sometimes things have to happen that way in order for you to hone new skills, become aware of abilities you didn’t know you had or even for you to work on your character. 

“The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance — and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”
― Oprah Winfrey

Doing the right thing is not always easy, do

It anyway. Take a chance on yourself and give yourself the same Grace you give others.  You know it’s the right thing because although it may be hard in the drowsy if your being it resonates with your truth and the very foundation of who you are.

So don’t be so quick to call it in: 

Assess the situations.

Remind yourself of why you started.

Remind yourself of who you are.

Breathe.

Take it one day at a time. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was destroyed in a day. It’s easier to break and destroy the progress you have made than it is to build. 

Nothing worth doing comes easy. It takes hard work and discipline to see a dream come to fruition. 

May August blow in gently.

May you be reminded of why you started. 

May you be filled with new hope.

May your passion never die out. 

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, Which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭121:1-3‬ ‭KJV–