The swift and sudden hand of fate can disrupt our lives and shake our foundations.
We may feel our morals or beliefs slowly decay when tragedy strikes and find ourselves questioning our sense of peace and even abandoning our faith by focusing on the problems we face.
Uncertainty and optimism
Every year brings uncertainty and optimism, but 2026 in particular will be remembered as one of the toughest years of my life.
And mind you, in one year, I’ve watched all my grandparents on their death beds whilst battling to accept my mother’s cancer diagnosis and journey in 2016.
Years before I struggled with panic attacks to the point where I struggled to finish a meal, sit inside a classroom or even fall asleep.
During those painful years I was paralysed by anxiety, I wondered and asked “why was this happening to me?” it was as if my shadow was taking control of my body and my thoughts were slowly sliding down the drain.
But once I decided to “rescue myself” and with the aid of music, family, faith and therapy, I made the decision to crack this simulation of fear I was under.
I decided to put myself in uncomfortable situations and feel comfortable in them by facing my fear and humming a mantra that I’ll be alright and no panic would petrify me when I sat inside those lecture rooms I dreaded as a student.
Confidence in crisis
After consistent practise of this method, which included growling like a lion in front of the mirror, I managed to cope and later thrive with a newfound confidence.
I was ready to tackle any challenge that came my way.
And now a decade later, I witnessed another cascade of calamities which included surviving a car accident, escaping a dangerous fall at a roller-rink and seeing the threat of retrenchments that has swept various nations and sectors with hardly any moments to catch our breath.
With the surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the constant blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, our realities are being warped before our eyes, and the ‘glory days’ are seemingly fading like long-forgotten songs.
The non-stop rise in petrol prices, inflation and the skyrocketing price of goods, is a hard pill to swallow for everyone and bears so much consequences that we struggle to fully grasp.
I can only imagine how the uncertain economic climate has affected young parents paying school fees or caring for their newborns which could all be even more difficult to manage with all the setbacks we face in our lives.
If we’re not careful we could become a shell of our former selves and even appear unrecognisable to ourselves and our loved ones.
Character arcs
But I find it’s at the most challenging times that we must rediscover our character, our tenacity and resilience in adversity.
After I emerged from that swamp of anxiety that covered me in 2016, the lesson I learnt was that this experience has taught me how to remain calm under pressure and embrace the unpredictable nature of the future.
I think the word that best captures this definition is equanimity.
Despite my thoughts of wondering whether my dad and I would lose our home, I decided to focus on what I could control.
I remembered I’ve had my back against the ropes countless times and knocked out these obstacles like Mohammed Ali doing his iconic “rope-a-dope” technique.
And now those fears that petrified me had not materialised and a new and exciting chapter awaits me.
However, I have not arrived at this sense of peace by myself this year, it was a collective effort formed by my family, friends, my partner, colleagues and faith in God.
So despite these treacherous waters we navigate like Odysseus trying to return home to his wife and children.
I pray we keep our eyes on the windshield and not the rear view mirror as we ride on the road of life.
As the poet Tom Waits said: “Don’t plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months. Before you know it, you got yourself a bad year. Take it from me – choke those little bad days. Choke ’em down to nothing.”
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