I grew up watching Disney. A lot of Disney.
If there’s one Disney-esque trait we all love to hate, as we grow older, it has to be the ending.
Prince Charming saving Cinderalla type of endings, and they both lived happily ever after.
But wait, aren’t we all waiting for a Prince Charming?
On Tuesday, I woke up and I had an epiphany. I said to myself “enough.”
It started like a small whisper in my head but the longer I said it, the louder it got. Because I was actually angry, and here is why.
A few weeks ago, I got inspired and wrote a manuscript for a picture book. Then, I sent it along to a children's books publisher who just happened to open for submissions at the time. They said, “you will hear from us by February 15th. If you don’t, that means we aren’t interested in your work.”
I submitted on January 29, so I thought it would be a short wait. For those three weeks, I checked my email obsessively every hour and I spent every spare minute daydreaming about how the book advance would cancel out all my financial worries.
Coincidentally, while I was ‘waiting’ for that to happen, I got an email from my bank. They said I had qualified for their monthly one million naira draw and I would get a phone call on February 11 if I won.
Cue the double waiting.
At the same time, I was in the middle of a business negotiation that looked like it was headed in a favorable direction. I drew up a proposal and sent it to the client for the green light.
Cue the triple waiting.
Here is the summary of what happened.
The publisher did not send me an email by February 15
My bank did not call me on February 11
My business call got rescheduled, then I missed it (because I ran out of data last minute) and I haven’t heard from that client since.
So on Tuesday, I was very very mad.
I was raving mad at myself for playing the pawn for so long, waiting for some magical hand to come and turn my life around, for something to fall in my lap and make everything okay.
That’s the shit we all do.
We wait for someone to climb the castle walls and open the door, someone to come riding through the woods and kiss us awake, the Prince Charming of a new job, a new relationship, a new apartment, a new car.
All that energy I had spent looking for external validation, I could have used on myself. I was so attached to the notion of something happening for me that I missed the most important part.
I make things happen. I don’t have to wait for a key when I can just open the damm door myself.
I’m kinda glad all of that went down because now I see my power. I heard 2022 is the year of the Water-Tiger. This is it; go time
I’m going to sign off with something I saw on Instagram.
If you see the picture of everything you want, it means you can have it. GO GET IT.
Cheers,
Zully