I thought I should add a personal touch this week and share my
story- just so we can to know each other better; how do you like the sound of
that? So here is my story: I recently joined WhatsApp- thanks to the genius who
raised alarm bells to the service providers about how much money they were
losing through the unlimited supply of data for only R60 per month that came
with BIS. Well, too be fair we still have BBM at R59 per month with the BAS,
but unfortunately some inglorious mugger decided to take my best friend’s
blackberry and I was with no choice but to join the WhatsApp
revolution. So as a newbie on WhatsApp, one day I decided to just go
through my contacts to see who is who in the zoo and I happened to come across
this picture:
BIS and BAS stand for Blackberry Internet Service and Blackberry
Absolute Service respectively; not common sense huh? Anyway to say the least,
the picture didn't have much significance at that moment but I
decided to save it anyway because that is something I do. I am not sure why I
do it though, apart from thinking that they might come in handy one day. I
guess it's just instinct. Yes, let's call it that. Anyway, I saved it and
forgot about it until last Sunday. Let’s just say I had too much expectations
Sunday, and they were not necessarily high expectation- but none were met.
First I went to church and I was very excited we finally have a nice big venue
after months of uncertainty and hardship. Oh well, it turned out big
is not always good as i could barely hear anything with the echo in that venue.
As expected, after hopeless attempts to actively focus on what was happening,
the mind just ends up racing all over God knows what.
Anyway, I went to Mzoli’s afterwards thinking my day was about to
get better. I was happy to be with my chommas and was looking forward to the
meat too until I saw the queue to the butchery. You would swear it was
teenagers queuing to get Justin Bieber's autograph on their parts. Fortunately,
my chommas are well connected so they made it to the cashier within 15 minutes
and I thought to myself in no longer than an hour I will be sinking my teeth in
that sticky marinated tender steak. Oh well, expectation is one thing and
reality is a totally different thing. Four hours later, there was neither meat, nor
a place to sit. So I decided to practice what I preach and called it
quits!
I was upset. As I was driving home I found myself deep in the
conversation of why small and medium-sized enterprises fail. I won't bore you
with the details of that conversation but to say the least, I gave them a zero
on customer service- they operate on a take it you or leave it system. Well,
that is just my opinion. So, shortly after I got to that place I call ‘home’ (for
now) I got a message from my friend telling me about a UCT Confessions page that seems to be a hit.
So I went like “What! Isn't that something for small institutions
like them WSUs and Varsity College?" I am the kind of person who likes putting things into
context. As a result by the time I went to take a look at it, I already
knew what I was going to find there- big mistake! Once again, I found myself
disappointed and I had no one to blame but myself for the expectations I created all by myself. I mean, as I browsed through it I couldn't help but keep inserting the
words "Dear Sis Dolly" before each "confession".
As I went through the events of the day in my head later on, I realized
there was only one constant in all these scenarios that ended in
disappointments and that was my expectations. Had I stopped expecting and just
went with the flow (which is quite a challenge for me); I would have saved
myself from all this emotional turmoil. So I decided to take that note in
the picture there a little bit personal and started a new chapter of not
expecting. It sounds really simple; if someone offends you, do not expect them
to apologise otherwise you might grow grey hair waiting. Like Jesus did, just
ask God to forgive them (or in my case, just write them off) and move on. If you like
someone, do not expect them to like you back- it's just not fair. Let’s face it
now; you too do not like everyone who likes you. Share your problems
with people because you find it therapeutic, but do not expect them to solve
them for you or give advice because the reality is, for as long as they are not
part of the equation, the solution will always look simpler on their eyes. Trust me o this one; but do not expect me to be not wrong.
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