Lessons from my Summer

Hi all🤗

And welcome back. I know I went incognito this summer but boy, do I have posts to write so let's start off with some lessons from my summer.

Grab a drink and a snack and let's begin.

Image credit: Parents Magazine and Dreamstime

This summer has been stressful!

I remember watching Disney and nickelodeon and envying all the summer fun. How can people have 3 whole months of no work? Fantabulous! I was so excited when I started college, I remember looking forward to all my 3 month holidays. Psych!

My wonderful self went to get two minors that are largely unrelated to my major which meant, extra classes! So many that I needed to take some during the summer to catch up.

So I signed up for 4 classes. 4! I didn't even pity myself. Last semester I took 5 classes and now I was trying to sign up for 4. In the middle of the holiday! With Nigerian Internet!

By the time it dawned on me how much work it would take especially since I wanted to do a bunch of other stuff too plus an internship, I decided to cut it down to 3. But it was still hectic.

So lesson number 1. Never take on more than you can accomplish. Account for everything.

When preparing, it always seems you can do a lot more. It always seems like there's space for something here and there, but as my friend said, "you need to have buffer time!" This is time dedicated to the miscellaneous, the unexpected. Do you want to spend 12 hours reading every day? Don't forget to add 6 to 8 hours for sleep. Really? Yes. I'm currently reading this book - The 5 AM club - where one of the main characters said, "Rest and recovery isn't a luxury for anyone committed to mastery, it's a necessity." If you're going to spend 12 hours reading hard, you might as well spend 8 sleeping hard. Your body isn't a machine. And even machines overheat and pafuka!

And if you're at home, add 4 hours for the putting on of gen, running of errands, distractions, and leisure. I don't know about you but it's usually when I want to be productive that someone in the house remembers I exist, the wifi goes down, or my phone starts to show battery low. (In fact, as I finished typing this on my screen, I just got a 5% battery low notification. Shey you see what I'm saying😅)

And for Lesson 2 - Eat the toad first!

This one goes out to my fellow procrastinators. Now, we're not eating actual toads here😄- some of them are poisonous - but what I mean is do the most boring, seemingly takes forever task first. When you're done with that, everything else becomes easy. Don't wait to be motivated. If you do, you'll never get to it. I remember my pastor saying that if you wait till you feel like praying before you pray, you won't have a prayer life. Some things are labor. And just like we all go to school and work every day even when we hate it, some tasks need to be done regardless of how we feel.

Easier said than done right? Lemme share my experience. Because I was taking 3 classes, I often had many assignments due but instead of me focusing on doing them, your girl would do everything else except those assignments - from laundry to rearranging wardrobe - and even when there was nothing else to do, I'd carry Netflix and be watching just to try and forget that I had assignments. Then when it was 5 hours to the deadline, I'd be rushing to finish them. Of course, some were late, some could have been done better and some well, it was the grace of God. At some point when it looked like I might fail the class, I had to report myself to Jesus. And don't get me wrong, he didn't send the Holy Spirit to possess me and force me to do my work (though at some point, I wish he had) but he would help me come up with strategies that I could use to keep myself accountable. And even though, I'm still nowhere near perfect, I'm better than I was 3 months ago. This leads me to the final lesson.

Don't be running to _______ when you should be running to Jesus.

For me, it was Netflix, my thoughts, or social media. The enemy will give you options ehn.

I remember when I was listening to a friend's podcast and she was talking about the different types of procrastinators. There are the ones who procrastinate as a coping mechanism for anxiety related to starting or completing any task. They usually take on more than they are capable of and not being able to fulfill all the expectations causes them stress to which they deal with by procrastinating. This table! I'm trying to fly down from it.

I'll say the key is to remember that distractions don't make the problems go away, they only help you suppress them, like drugs or drinking. They'll make you forget about the problem this night but tomorrow morning, the problem is smiling at your face again.

That's why phones can be as addictive as drugs. Because they help you forget.

So you have to eat the toad, and the best way to make sure you do that is to be firm yet forgiving.

Plus, if I know a guy that does that well, it's Jesus. Call me crazy but I've read all the motivational books and they all seem to point back to "getting your body to answer to you or finding it within yourself." The flesh. Ha! Christians know that the flesh can be very stubborn. In fact, the only thing that the flesh answers to is the Spirit of God.

Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16-18,

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

Maybe you're like, "Jesus doesn't have time for all this." You'd be surprised what he has time for. Matthew 6 says that God cares about the lilies and the sparrows - which you have dominion over - so he definitely cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7 also says cast ALL your cares or worries unto Jesus. Not just the "I need to be saved from my village people" or "I need a car, a job or a spouse" worries but even the "I need to find my earpiece", "I need parking space" or "I need to pass this exam" worries. He's not just about getting you into heaven - even though that is his number 1 priority - but also about enjoying your stay on earth. After all, he made it for you. And he said it was good.

Anyhoos, all this to say, I've finally deleted/disabled Netflix from all my mobile devices😭 until I finish my daily checklist. Withdrawal symptoms ehn🤒 Pray for me😅

But that's all my friends.

Never take on more than you can accomplish. Account for everything.

Eat that toad!

And don't run to distractions instead of running to Jesus.

I hope you were either encouraged or enjoyed laughing at my procrastination skills. I know I did - retrospectively😅

Know someone who might need this?

Don't be a reservoir, share this with them or on your social media. You never know who's scrolling🤷‍♀️

I'll add a link to some of the resources I referenced in the post.

Have a blessed weekend.

✌&💝

* What do I mean by "Prayer is labor"?

Learn more in the School of Prayer series on YouTube here

* The Bible - The bible is the best place to connect to Jesus. Download the Bible app today. (Note: Bible plans are really great for topic by topic growth.)

My friend's podcast on Plans and Procrastination - The unusual with soj