2023 can feel like three years in one, and at the same time, like a year comprising an average of 20 days in a month. Like Omo, time is running!

At the start of the year, there was a lot to look forward to, a lot of eagerness to get into the year and do stuff and make things happen.

It’s like a hustle to be better, achieve more, and be more. So much that we stop living and almost forever exist in the rush. What do I mean?

I moved into my first rented apartment, which doubled as my studio space and housed my workspace. As a brand, by the very help of God, we hit a significant milestone, and relationship-wise, I’m good!

However, for a while, I was blind to this. I was primarily focused on the next best thing: how to pack up the brand’s calendar with events, make time for the people that matter, and do more stuff. I was knee-deep in the rat race so much that I wasn’t in the present.

Some nights ago, I got down to pray, and it was just then I looked around me, and my eyes were opened to the present. For a minute, I was in the present, looking around at all that had happened for me in the year, and I couldn’t help but feel a little unappreciative because it felt like I wasn’t so much in the now, appreciating the little wins because of the other victories I can’t wait to have.

And one would think all I’ve got has been by my doing because that would be the only validation for the hustle. But no! It’s been all God’s grace, and by not living in the present, I was taking all of it from HIM and making it all me. In short, it was pride.

The truth is, we’ve all, at some point in time, been caught in this “pride” trap. We make our journey about us and how much we can do that we fail to stop, live, and enjoy the present. Regardless of all that’s yet to be, there are many other things that are, and we’d only see and appreciate them a lot better when we stop to be in the present.

It’s not our show. Stealing the show from God, who has guided and directed the flow from the start, isn’t the way to go.

And just like one of my favorite childhood scriptures says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path”.

Remember, the little wins testify to the fact that God is not done yet.