I know for sure that nothing in life is free. I know for sure that great people don’t sit about waiting for luck to happen. I know for sure that life gives you the best gift it has to offer, life and time and it is up to you, what you do with the 24 diamonds of each day better known as 24 hours. And I know for sure that as far as I am concerned, failure is not an option.
So, I have been in the classroom of life where there is a lot of repositioning going on. It has been draining on all levels, especially mentally and emotionally. Sometimes I don’t even want to talk to a soul but I know who I can open my heart to and I know who not to tell a word but just smile even if I am dying.
Last year, I applied to take a masters degree in a different field and discipline and things didn’t work out the way I had envisioned they would. It was so painful, I could feel my heart beating faster than usual when I was reading that letter. I got the place but the bursary didn’t fall through because they thought I was over qualified and didn’t need another masters. Okay, a great compliment but I know why I wanted to take a masters degree for crying out loud. And fair to say, sometimes, studying again and again is not the key. You just end up with a great number of degrees and get hotter than the sun but have nothing to show for it.
So after reading the ‘No,’ letter, I cried my eyes out and of course, my mum is on the other end of the phone telling me, so, you didn’t get it, move on to the next thing. I wish it was that easy. As with all things in my life to date, I dusted myself and started again and now I am not too keen on doing a masters in that field anymore. I actually want to go back and take a masters degree in theatre production as that has long been a strong desire of mine. Over time, I have been able to think and weightthe different options available to me and this is one area where my passion increases and does not decrease. I even dream about it in my sleep, that is how deep the desire to get this done is. It is like fire shut up in my bones. And I am really hungry for it. So, I was having a moment today and taking stock of a few things that have happened to me lately, within the space of one month, I have been asked to mentor two 12-year-olds and act as a guide and give assistance to a young adult.
I love mentoring and in the past, I have mentored a few teenagers, some of whom are today my babies. But pre-teens, I have no idea what to do but I am sure we will figure it out once we get there and agree on what we are doing. I am very excited about the young adult. I don’t know much about her but I trust I will get to know her ,and I hope I can really help her and she gets a whole lot out of this partnership.
This reminded me why I could not and should never give up on myself. I have to counteract every knock down with a fight back and say, ‘Giving Up is Just Not In My DNA.’ Imagine if I was known as Belinda, the one who gives up, I don’t think anyone would recommend me to mentor anybody or give assistance/guidance to others. Goes to reiterate that our journey is the way it is, so we can impact others and help them when they get to that point where they need direction like I have been given by my mentors.
This is where I tell you that I have the best mentors anyone could ever ask for. They never get tired of me even if I send them 100 emails in a day. They really look after me and always tell me the truth. It is very interesting the way I got my journalism mentor but that is a story for another day. For now, I want to remind myself that ‘Giving Up Is Not In My DNA’ because I need to stand up, so that other people will become outstanding.
I once heard Donald Lawrence, say, ‘We go through, so that others can become.’ I couldn’t agree more. So, whatever you do, even if the world gives up on you, you are not allowed to give up on yourself.
Yolanda Adams captures what I am feeling right now with her song, Never Give Up.
