I have a lot going on and between EC Meet Up, Gateway News, my commitment to my church’s Music&Creative Arts department, my actual 9 to 5 and oh ya, I have a family; things are a bit cray cray on this side. I explained all of this to Hubstopher, telling him that I’ve only been able to blog once or twice per week, lately. I had been toying with the idea of pausing the blog for a period (or indefinitely) and jokingly said that the 20 people who read it won’t exactly be boycotting the internet because of my idea to shut down. To which I was promptly and politely put on my place. My darling Hubstopher reckons that it doesn’t matter if your post reaches 1 person or 1000 people… “if only 20 people are reading your posts, then that’s fine… do it for the 20!” he said.

He was so passionate about it, I almost thought he was going to go all church preacher on me. It didn’t end there. An hour into being at work, he sent me a text that said “do it for the 20”. This guy is as persistent as Madonna’s music career. But I think that he has a point.

Have you ever considered what YOUR reach is? When we think about people who have influence, Mother Theresia or Beyonce comes to mind. But you don’t have to be a blogger, or a politician, or a celeb (with really good hair) to be affluent. You are probably impacting individuals on a daily basis (and you don’t even know it!) with the things you say and do.

I mean, if you’re a mom, it’s kind of a no brainer. You already know that your kids watch everything you do (I can’t even poop without an audience, yo). So the way that you treat people and respond to situations is, like, a blueprint for them. Our biggest audience may be online, but our most important audience lives under our roof.

We are all walking billboards and sometimes we kinda forget to be mindful of what we are advertising – you have the ability to affect those around you! Your influence is important, whether it touches 1 life or 10000 lives.

And hey, let’s not even bring up social media, yo. Social media has literally given the masses a microphone, allowing everyone to shout out their opinions all at the same time. It can get a bit mind numbing, for sure.

But hey, you don’t need to be on a stage to make a statement. You don’t need to have a big following, in order to bring about change. Be persistent. Be intentional. Be consistent. But, above all, walk in the confidence that you are exactly where you’re meant to be, you have the ability to change the atmosphere wherever you go, and you have the power to influence… even if it’s only 20 people.

Life changes when you hit 30. Well, I’m convinced. I don’t know about all you other 30-somethings, but I could feel the change in season the year that I said good bye to my 20’s. (Which was not this year, btw) I mean, it’s not a popular way to think and you won’t find it on a Drake swag note or anything, but when you end your 20s, you kinda say goodbye to your youth… your wonder years, if I may. You grow up. You grow OLDER.

For most, when you turn 30 years old, you acquire an amazing super power (some choose not to indulge in this super power, mind you). It’s called SENSIBILITY. You apply it to your everyday life and find yourself concerned with things that probably did not come up when you were younger. Things like: are you banking with the right financial institution and have you bought enough life cover. You take out insurance and pay school fees and make sure your drivers license is renewed. You try to eat healthy and value your parents more and notice when a young child says “please” and “thank you” because it’s so rare nowadays.

You also find yourself being super picky about who you surround yourself with. Life gets busy and you’re not the “stay awake until 3am” business anymore, so idly sitting around with people who you do not have a relationship with becomes less appealing.

You become so aware of time… the amount of hours you get to sleep and the amount of leave days you’ve accumulated at work and how long it will take you to drive to your kid’s school, from home, when your whole household woke up 20 minutes late. You learn to savor the fun moments, because it’s a break away from the norm. And you reach a point where you either long for the things you were passionate about in your late teens/twenties OR you find yourself eagerly pursuing them.

I think that 30 is where you realize that life is short and you have to make the most of it! It’s a season of reaping whatever you’ve sown in your 20s and for some, that could be a really scary harvest to reap. For the longest time I thought that I had to survive my 30s… because when you’re 40, it’s that much easier to accept the fact that you’re not 20 anymore (hahaha)… But hey, I don’t want to SURVIVE my 30s… I want to THRIVE in my 30s! How about you?

I mean, don’t get me wrong friend, 30 does not mean that your life is over and you need to start preparing for the grave. Rather, it’s a reminder that it’s not too late to do the things you said you’d do when you were a teenager. You know, writing that book, climbing that mountain, studying for that degree or starting that family. In fact, I dare you to do it!

So that’s where I’m at… regroup, regroup, reeeggrrroooouppp! Because life is too short to wonder about what could have been. Unless you’re Adele. Then you could just write a song about it and become a millionaire.