Navigating Challenging Seasons

Charlotte and I met during our youth service year. We were good friends, like family we stuck with each other. Just after the service year she was ready to get married. It was a befitting ceremony for her and she soon settled down to a married life, which unknown to her will be a short one. She had a set of twins and everyone was happy and rejoiced with the couple.

Eight months down the line, on a fateful morning the family set out on a journey to visit her parents-in-law, when a truck lost control and ran into their car which immediately went into flames. Charlotte was the only survivor with a second degree burnt. Her husband and children did not make it. Tragic you would say, but this is not a fairy tale. It actually is a true life story.

This is just one of many challenges that life throws at us, some we actually envisage but most of these challenges take us unprepared. Like the loss of a job, a loved one calling off an engagement, the death of a dear one (parent, uncle, aunt, friend, wife, husband, child), the loss of a husband or wife through divorce, the loss of a business deal or a whole business enterprise. The list is endless. There are times when life really hurts.

This write up is not about denying the brutal realities that confronts us, neither is it an attempt to try to bring an instant answer to any questions you might have in mind but, it is about letting you know that someone out there is concerned and just wants to give support.

The Navigation Process

One of the major reason why navigating through difficult season looks impossible to a lot of people is because they live in an ideal world instead of the real world. There are two kinds of world, the real and the ideal. The ideal world is where life always follows a particular happy ending script, while the real one is where you are confronted with the brutal realities of life.

The following are some points to have in mind when confronting the brutal realities of life;

• Life is a Bed of Roses: While growing I use to hear people especially the elders say you need to work hard and that life is not a bed of roses. But as I advanced in years I decided to study the rose flower and I found out that the same beautiful rose with sweet fragrance is also the same flower with thorns. Therefore I concluded that life is a bed of roses. The good, the bad and the ugly are all packaged into the times and seasons of life.

Always live your life preparing for any of the vicissitude that life throws at you.