Can your … even?

Ever been to a church, where you feel they understood you or you can relate to the teachings? Not the usual ” I take it in Jesus’ name” but where you actually have to do your part and trust God to see it to completion. Well, i have to admit that  i have been to some many churches in this Kampala city (Sandrah and I had agreed to find a church to be part of).

Sometime back while I was still at the university I went to visit the one and only, Anitah. Anitah isn’t just one of the  ordinary cousins, she is my big sister (not the small big one like Lynn) and  she is my friend too. As always it was an eventful weekend and to add icing to the cake, she took me to church.  We drove for some time and i was wondering why someone would leave Bweyogerere all the way to Naalya, as if there weren’t any churches in between. We finally reached the CHURCH, in my mind i was like okay, finally! The church was big, it was the only time I ever sat upstairs, the praise and worship were on point, I admit i didn’t listen much to the sermon as I was busy looking. I liked it here and indeed when I went back to my Kikoni, I looked up the church and followed them on social media.

Three years after my first visit, i was working now and had made new friends. One in particular was Mutabingwa, whom i knew  was participating in a lot of praise and worship. I told him about my dilema then of not having a particular church I was affiliated to and he suggested Worship Harvest. It was then that i told him about how i had prayed from there once during my campus days and i had liked it. I am embarassed to admit that by then i still wasn’t committed to going to church but once in a while Sharon (my housemate then) and i went to a certain church.

On 26th March2017, a day after my birthday , i went to Worship Harvest and decided to renew my relationship with God. And oh my, it was the best birthday gift one could ever give to oneself. I walked up to the front and someone prayed with me. I started going more often and was proud of myself about the decision i had made.

At this point my priorities had changed, i stopped praying for money and other other earthly things and decided to first concetrate on working on my relationsip with God. In my mind, i had planned that if  this relationship got to where i hoped for it to be , it was a matter of time before the rest fell into place. .Should i mention the different series of teachings; the most impacting for me so far has been the Straigh Forward Finacial Growth (SFFG). No one had ever opened my eyes about Finances this way before this series, i dare the person to speak up. I had to calculate my networth, i had never met anyone in my life who discussed NETWORTH apart from what i watch on TV and read in Magazines while ranking celebrities and rich people in the world. From my point of view, it was a rich people thing. I had to think of ways to improve my networth by finding more income streams.  I have met so many people who have impacted my life in so many ways. It was during this coaching that i read/listened to the most books  in my life. I was challenged, i learnt so much about finances and my attitude towards life changed too. Have i mentioned that it was during this time that i started a business? yes Audrey has a business(she sells the best Peanut and Honey in Uganda )

This week i started reading Vasta’s “the Leadership Boot-camp” thanks to Mutabingwa who advised  that one should read it before they enrol into Harvest Institute. Do you know what impact this has on someone by the time they are done with the course? I am just reading the book but i see myself in a diffeerent place even before i enrol for the course. I frankly haven’t been to a plcae that wishes so much personal growth for it’s members. This stopped being just a church for me, it is a family of its own.

I am glad to be part of Worship Harvest.

Reading this reminded me of my own healing journey

Healing- The process.

A Year Older

Happy Birthday Audrey. Yes, Happy Birthday to Me, I need to normalize celebrating myself and not shy away as has been the norm.

I am grateful for God’s faithfulness, the growth, experiences, trials, and lessons learned.

In this past year, we completed the MBA, I use ‘We’ because it took a village for this, and I have been blessed to have a strong support system. Travelling for this graduation was also our first overseas travel, story for another day. I enrolled for a certification looking forward to acing it.

I completed 3 rounds of Activate Uganda’s 100-day challenge of walking, yeyyy. I attempted the Kasese Marathon where I walked 21 km and proudly Team Matooke’s Lubowa-Entebbe run/walk.

I travelled back to Moyo for the second time and still, it was for a hike.

I am most grateful for my tribe, the people who hold me accountable, challenge me and force me to level up.

I look forward to achieving more in this coming year. Can’t wait to tick off more items off my list.

The Beautiful Curves

Don’t you love the way the clothes hug those beautiful Curves, aren’t you grateful looking in the mirror and acknowledging how luck you’re that you’re not investing in the… just to look better in certain outfit? Well I am so lucky to have these Curves.

But don’t take it for granted because you’re blessed,  you need to take good care of it too,  try exercising for  at least 30 minutes everyday.  It’s as easy steps I make it sound,  I personally haven’t done any of that for the last 2 weeks but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Be better than me,  do what I can’t. 

If that is too much try drinking 2 litres of water,  I have convinced myself it will make a difference,  add a few slices of lemon if you can. 

If not try the cleansing though I can’t remember the last time I did this,  once again just because I can’t do something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t,  one of us ought to do these things. 

Oh,  have I confessed the main reason I am insisting on these things,  the curves are escalating even in places I wouldn’t want them to be in excess. We are forcefully changing the wardrobe,  I mantain email love the curves but it’s our responsibility to make them admirable,  tone them up. 

Will  try harder starting tomorrow.      Chau Chau. 

Healthy Eating

What do you wish you could do more every day?

It’s one thing to know what to do and it’s another to actually do it, that is my relationship with food. The number of times I have promised myself to eat healthier but life happens.

Meals preparations happens for a week but in no time we are back to poor eating habits when the food is finished.

I am still committed to eating healthier and thus will keep trying as many times as possible.

Sharon, the Birthday Girl

On this day 20 something years ago, a baby girl was born and they named her Sharon. Some people call her Shan but the villager in me is stuck with Sharon.

So who is this Sharon creature? Sharon is the girl I met on the 5th of December 2014 at an end of year work party. I was in my 3rd month at the job and didn’t know that many people. She was already friends with Momo whom o had a few months before. 

From L-R: Merab, Me, Momo and Sharon

We didn’t talk because Sharon rarely talks much to people she has just met but  after a few drinks we took to the dance floor, had camera moments together and exchanged contacts. I believe that’s the day I became friends with Sharon. A month after meeting Sharon, she had beach plot with her friends and I was lucky to be invited.

L-R: Irene, Sharon, Momo and I

I had so much fun at the beach because I rarely had time out with girls since I had got into the habit of finding my way around with no one to worry about. I concluded that the more time you spend with someone you’ll eventually get attached to them. 

I continued meeting Sharon at work events and parties and we always used these to catch up. It was late November 2015 that she told me she was house hunting since her housemate had traveled for further studies. I thought about her situation for some days and then made the decision to try out having a housemate, of course I had everyone giving me Thur experiences and opinions about the idea of having a housemate but at the end of it all it was up to me to decide. We went out house hunting one Friday afternoon and were successful by evening. At the beginning of December 2015 we officially moved on together. I realized she wasn’t the Kampala girl I had earlier thought of her to be, she liked cleaning and cooking a lot. We started doing things and meeting each other’s friends. 

Sharon and I at Cafe Ceylon

Did I mention we both love having a good time, invite us to any party and trust me we’ll be there. We’ve over the time learned to tolerate one another by respecting each other’s space.

L-R:Me, Sandrah and Sharon

We recently had a surprise party     for Sharon with the help of my dear friend Sandrah. We are yet to create more beautiful memories together. 

I am glad I have you in my life Sharon.

Hoping it will be different

So last year i started out here, made myself many promises to improve my writing, to read more and basically be better at everything. It didn’t go as planned as we can tell by now. But i am sure this year will be better.

The plan is to read at least 2 books per month. Small beginnings.

Wish me luck already.

WHAT DEFINES YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF LIFE?

Watching the movie, “the Bachelors” on Sunday evening I found myself commenting, “Privileged people problems”. The successful sports guy in this movie was actually depressed because he wasn’t decided about what to do in his retirement, on the other hand his less successful friend was struggling and wishing for just one an experienced assistant coach to make his breakthrough.

The things we take for granted mean heaven to someone else. But why is it that we take these things for granted?

I will think “accessibility” can explain this.  For the kid who grew up lacking, they definitely will not take some things for granted, even opportunity will be treasured.

Entitlement! Most people depending on the way they have been brought up feel they are entitled to some things; their parents’ property, access to education, privileges at different stages of life.

But there is a certain species of people that I have still failed to understand. The kind that grow up lacking, they see their parents hustle through life but all this means nothing to them. These people will be expelled from one school to another; they’ll take on all sorts of habits and become nuisances.

 I don’t know if someone out there can explain to me what goes on in such people’s minds. I hope to visit this particular topic some time again.

The Gift of Family

We are all come from a unit that we call, Family. Few people come from strictly nuclear families and the majority of us from extended ones. I have come to believe that these people have a major role they play in our lives and thus intentionally and unintentionally determine how we turn out. I have observed families blamed for a certain person’s behavior. This is usually when there was a lot of disunities some sort of abuse and dysfunctionality.

We have also heard the best of actors, sportsmen, business people and I think every successful person attribute their success to the strong support to their families and then hard work. So be supportive of one another, be kind, check on that sister brother cousin, your parents.

Today I too come to these streets to say, thank you to the gift of family. Mine, in particular, is from my mother and my extended family. I love you guys.

Why Are we Friends?

Talking about family, I feel inclined to say something about friendships. What is friendship? Do we really need friends, can’t I do without friends? Friendship to me is the relationship with the people I choose to do life with.

”Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Friendship has been studied in academic fields such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy.” according to Wikipedia

We usually have three types of friends: friends for a reason, friends for a season and friends for life. Every time we enroll for a school programme , new work places we make friends for a season. These are the people with whom you will support each other and be there there for one another until this season is finished. You study with them, eat with them and literally do everything with them.

Then we have friends for a reason. These are the friends we need to fix things in our lives: you have friends in almost every office for a particular reason. Recently a friend asked if I had a contact in NIRA because they needed help with their National I.D. You know which friend won’t mind helping you with that coursework or research. We often complain about that person who only calls when they need something from us but we forget that we are that person to someone else.

We then come to friends for life: the friends for a season and those for a reason can eventually become friends for life depending on how well you work and invest in the friendship. Some people are still friends with their kindergarten friends while others barely remember each other. Relationships have developed from friends for season. A former work mate of mine met her husband while they were studying for their postgraduate diploma.

With this differentiation of the friendships, i have come to understand why some people I thought were my closest friends are now distant. We often complain and get frustrated trying to keep in touch with people who have already moved on with their lives. Our/their purpose in each other lubes ended with that season.

Not all friends were initially strangers we met in school, work, subway or elsewhere, but a good number of these are also our family members. Siblings to make the best friends especially the girls, can’t say much about the boys as their bonds are usually not as strong.