Born to make a difference in 2016 and beyond

In 2016 may you be reminded that you were born to make a difference. When all else fails always remember your main reason for living. The hardships you have gone through in your life are not by coincidence or by some quirk of fate. God has deliberately brought these situations into your life, not to break you, but to cultivate the gold that is within you.

I believe you were born into the perfect family, the perfect community and the perfect country. You attended the perfect school, perfect university and are employed by the perfect company. By perfect, I mean perfect imperfections. The type of imperfections that are not good for lazy souls but good for building resilience and a formidable character. The type of imperfections that life has so successfully over years used as springboards for so many personalities that have in so many ways changed the world, inspired generations , impacted governments, blazed trails to unchartered territories and brought us greatness as we know it today.

There is no person I consider to have lived a great life who has not gone through moments of heart piercing failure, moments of great testing, moments of betrayal, humiliation, times where they had to sacrifice, moments where they were brought to the brink of doubting, and did indeed doubt and second guess their own self-worth and existence.

It is said that "attitude is the prophet of your destiny"; this statement is a powerful phrase that, through my short life, has taught me that my destiny is great, in fact it is so great that it is scary when I think about it. This statement says to me that while the future is strikingly bright, my attitude determines whether I realise my dream or not. The way I perceive situations and, most importantly, life in general is the deciding factor.

My brother, who is a pastor, once shared a story about 3 people who had never experienced smoke and fire but once in their lives. It goes something like this: the first person's experience of fire was during a very cold winters night when they used fire to keep them warm, the second person's only experience of fire was when they were celebrating their families first car and used fire for a braai and the third person's only experience of fire is when their thatch roof house caught alight as a result of a lightning strike. It happened that these three people were all blindfolded and placed in one room and controlled smoke was set off inside the house. What was interesting to note was their different responses to the smell of smoke.

The first person had a warm fuzzy feeling because the only time he had experienced the smell of fire was on a cold day when fire had kept them warm. The second person had feelings of joy and celebration. When the third person had smelled the fire, he became very anxious and defensive because the one and only time he experienced smoke was when their house burnt down and they had lost everything thing they had.

This simple but profound anecdote helped me realise that we often live life through the lenses of our past, be it positively or negatively. One has to make a conscious decision that despite the past, one will be positive regardless of one's perceptions. Quite frankly, what we often mistaken as harmful to us may be the very thing that is going to be our spring board to the next level of existence.

The end. Ekugcineni.

Best wishes,

Themba Dlamini CA(SA)

www.thembadlamini.co.za