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Day 110

When you learn, teach, when you get, give.”
— Maya Angelou

It’s 7: 59 PM on day 110 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself barbeque left-overs from last night for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –my friends did most of the heavy lifting today I just helped out – I LOVE Twitter 🙂 –      feed myself Malva Pudding for lunch – yum! 🙂 – watch TV, go to the bathroom by myself – I made a HUGE mess maybe my mom’s right and I should let her do everything but what’s going to happen when she’s no longer around 🙁 – and exercise for 15 minutes   

A few years ago I was watching Oprah – it’s funny how every important in my life is tied to that show – and she happened to mention the fact that she had kept a gratitude journal for years and I figured it worked for her so from that day onwards I too have kept a gratitude journal and in the spirit of paying it forward I’m asking everybody I know to follow in my footsteps.  Will you keep a gratitude journal? 🙂

Day 109

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.

– Author Unknown

It’s 10: 42 PM on day 109 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and Kadala Curry – made of brown chickpeas –   for  breakfast,  brush my teeth – my mom constantly complains that I don’t do anything and when I try to brush my teeth over the sink – I usually brush my teeth perched on the toilet spitting the toothpaste and water into a small bucket – she says I’m making a mess – I just can’t win with her 🙁  –     tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –  I was hoping that people would donate to my cause in the spirit of starting the year off on a good note – no such luck 🙁 –     feed myself carrots  for lunch,   exercise for 15 minutes – the 15 minutes went by in the blink of an in large part due to the fact that I was watching my favourite show  The Ghost Whisperer – imagine what life would be like if we could talk to those who were no longer with us –  and  play host to the 20+ people who were at our New Year’s Eve barbeque – it was so much fun we played board games and ate – A LOT LOL 🙂

In the spirit of New Year’s Eve I spent a few hours after breakfast reflecting on the year that was 2010 and as I saw my life with different eyes I finally realized that the only thing standing between me and my goals for 2011 (see below) is the intense hate that I feel towards my father for the way I grew up and so as we approach a new year I give my father a gift that we both can share – the gift of forgiveness. Have you let go of all the hate that you’ve felt in 2010? 🙂  

My goals for 2011

  • To raise $4 500 for The Water Project Inc through my Clean Water for All Campaign

 

  • To be physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually independent of my parents

 

  • To write a book and have it published

 

Happy New Year everyone! 🙂

Day 108

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6

It’s 9: 45 PM on day 108 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Spring rolls  for  breakfast, cry about my life for a while – crying didn’t make my problems disappear but it did make me feel better 🙂 –    tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still  no luck :(–    feed myself steak and  mash potatoes for lunch, go to the bathroom by myself –  the back of my t-shirt fall into the toilet water and my mom had to help me change –  again LOL – and  exercise for 30 minutes – my back hurts 🙁

Yesterday I sent my cousin a message wishing her all the best on her impending nuptials – she’s getting married today – and after reading her reply I spontaneously burst into tears at first I thought I was crying because I wouldn’t be attending the wedding but then I caught myself thinking   daddy didn’t take me to the wedding so maybe I’m not good enough and after  a moment of reflection I thought to myself of course you’re good enough God made you  and with that my tears dried up and I didn’t feel so alone anymore. Have you ever consciously contradicted your negative thoughts? 🙂

Day 107

People will do just about anything for you if they feel an oneness with you – that’s what I learned today 🙂                          

It’s 8: 10 PM on day 107 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Plain yoghurt  for  breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – 66 days and counting till the close of my campaign – God help me! –    feed myself mash potatoes for lunch, go watch Due Date at the Hemingways Mall – it was a funny and heartwarming tale of a man racing against time to make it to his wife’s side for the birth of their first child – I  REALLY recommend it to anyone in desperate need of a laugh – go to the bathroom by myself – it ended up being more trouble than it was worth – the back of my t-shirt fall into the toilet water and my mom had to help me change LOL 🙂 –   feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and mash potatoes    for dinner  and  exercise for 15 minutes – I was SO tired that I didn’t even want to do it 🙁  

 Today as we –me and  my sister’s best friend’s father – entered the movie theatre we couldn’t help but notice that the two seats next to me were taken  which meant that my sister and her best friend couldn’t sit next to me but as luck would have it one of the woman had been wheelchair bound for a year due to a stroke so  the  two of them offered to vacate their seats for us and as they got up to leave  I realized that the secret to getting people to do what you want lies in making the other person see themselves in you.  Have you ever done something nice for somebody else because you saw yourself in him/her? 🙂    

Day 106

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde

It’s 6: 54 PM on day 106 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – and chicken curry  for  breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no luck 🙁 – wheel myself from the dining room to the sitting room – it barely took me two minutes this time – I am SO proud of myself 🙂 –     feed myself plain yoghurt  for lunch – weird I know LOL 🙂 – watched the 2nd Cricket between South Africa and India,  exercise for 15 minutes – my mother almost broke my hips LOL 🙂 – and    feed myself pizza  for dinner.

I  never understood what people  meant when they said  be yourself    but  after watching the game today and seeing how the South Africa players played in the face of defeat I realize that being yourself is having the courage to stay true to who you are even when things don’t work out exactly according to plan. Have you ever changed yourself to fit into a particular situation or to be liked by a particular person? 🙂

Day 105

Every act of dishonesty has at least two victims: the one we think of as the victim and the perpetrator as well. Each little dishonesty makes another little rotten spot somewhere in the perpetrator’s psyche.” – Lesley Conger.

It’s 8: 22 PM on day 105 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –   for  breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – $2 205 more to raise in 68– I am SO nervous 🙁 – slept for a few hours – my hips were killing me 🙁 –    feed myself a banana for lunch, watched TV, feed myself Custard  for dinner and  exercise for 15 minutes  – I’m sweaty and stinky and in desperate need of a cold shower LOL 🙂  

Today a family friend of  ours came to visit and she always asks me about my plans for the future and although I hated doing I would lie through my teeth because lying was easier than having her think of me as a loser but today as she took a sit next to me and asked me about my exams I made a decision to tell her the truth no matter how uncomfortable it made me and to my surprise it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be she just said oh I understand and walked away and in that moment I  felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Have you ever lied because it was too uncomfortable to tell the truth? 🙂

Day 104

There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuit or circle, without which there would be no activity, no motion” – John McDonald.

It’s 11: 32 PM on day 104 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –   and vegetable curry  for  breakfast,  tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few minutes –raised $30 today – I am SO happy 🙂 – learn Biology – I never knew why some twins were fraternal and others were identical but now I do 🙂 –    feed myself rice and curry for lunch and  exercise for 15 minutes  – it was so funny you know how usually it’s the people who are exercising who say are we done yet well today the roles were a little reversed and my mom was the one saying it  – that will show her to tell me to exercise LOL 🙂       

Today as I was reading an article on The Jonas Brothers (see below) I realized that not all celebrities drink, smoke and do drugs which and that realization made my heart smile because now I for certain that I wasn’t the only person in the world with ‘old fashioned’ values.

The Jonas Brothers all practice abstinence and wear purity rings to prove it. Here’s a snippet from the very lengthy article on the JoBros featured in Details Magazine:

“On a quiet Friday morning in a dressing room at Madison Square Garden, the Jonas Brothers hold out their hands to show off their purity rings. Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas—the teen-pop trio who stand, at this very moment, on the brink of hugeness—wear the metal bands on their fingers to symbolize, as Joe puts it, ‘promises to ourselves and to God that we’ll stay pure till marriage.’ Joe is 18. His ring is silver and adorned with a cross. ‘It actually ripped apart a little bit, just on the bottom, here, but I didn’t want to get a new one, because this one means so much to me,’ he says. Nick, who is 15, says, ‘I got mine made at Disney World. It’s pretty awesome.’ Kevin, at 20, is the oldest of the three, and while a punk-rock purity ring from Tiffany might represent the ultimate oxymoron, that’s exactly what he’s going for. His silver vow of abstinence is covered with studs. ‘It’s pretty rock and roll,’ Kevin says. ‘It’s getting banged up a little bit because of the guitar.’”

Day 103

The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.  ~Thomas Babington Macaulay

It’s8: 47 PM on day 103 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Appam – bread made of rice batter –   and beef curry for breakfast, watch TV, sent Christmas messages to everyone – I hope – had lunch with my aunt and her family – it was the quietest Christmas ever this year there were only 9 people whereas, last year there were at least 20 … everybody went to India for my cousin’s wedding 🙁 – feed myself Custard for dinner     and exercise for 15 minutes – the old me would have said its Christmas and left at that the new me didn’t – I couldn’t be prouder of myself 🙂     

We were having Christmas lunch at my cousin’s  house and I happened to say something along the lines of I’m going to buy the new Taylor Swift CD and my cousin looked at me and said why would you buy music when you can download it which I have to admit I have been guilty of doing in the past but somewhere along the line I realized that every time I stole somebody paid and from that day onwards I made a decision that NOTHING I wanted was worth compromising the values that I held so dear.  How far are you willing to go to get what you want? 🙂

Day 102

Even with our differences
There is a place we’re all connected
Each of us can find each other’s light

 – From the song Thankful by Josh Groban

It’s8: 56 PM on day 102 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself grilled chicken and potatoes for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  –someone made a $10 donation to my campaign – I’m so happy 🙂 –   watch TV and exercise for 5 minutes – my mom let me off early because it’s Christmas Eve – one of the many reasons why I LOVE Christmas 🙂 –    

In the process of raising money for my campaign I have come to realize that the majority of the human species suffers from a large disconnect and I believe that that will only change when every human being starts recognizing the shared humanity between all of us. When you meet someone new do you dwell on your difference or try to find similarities? 🙂

Happy Holidays everyone!

Day 101

Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about.John Demartini

It’s 7: 23 PM on day 101 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Plain yoghurt and grapes for  breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign  –someone made a $25 donation to my campaign – I’m so grateful 🙂 –   watch TV, exercise for 10 minutes  and feed myself rice and curry  for dinner    

As the sun rose on South Africa today I was pleading with God to get me a donation and sure enough a few hours later when I checked on my page I noticed a $25 increase in the ‘Total raised so far’ at first I thought it was just a coincidence and then I remembered that this wasn’t the first time God had given me what I asked for and I couldn’t help but look up at the ceiling with a smile and say thank you. Has God shown up for you when you really needed him? 🙂