At the end of 2015 I decided to be thankful for everything God has done and what he will do in my life then I started sharing my daily gratitude with pictures on Instagram, I tagged it my 365 days gratitude on Instagram. Before started writing my gratitude challenge; I was jobless, hopeless, lonely, cashless and so on.
As my gratitude goes on, I became very positive about life, I started writing things that are not in my life, as if they already exist. Yes some of you my call it "the law of attraction" but I call it faith because I so much believe in God. To be honest with you, it took me three freaking years of confusion, humilation and determination, to pickmup back to the woman that I would like to become.
Before I started my gratitude all my years of living in Europe was nothing but a life of 'uncertanity'- sorry I don't know if that is the right word or phrase to use here. I had no direction of where to go and what to do.
My 365 are as follow; I hope it will inspire you, not to give up on yourself:
1). I am Thankful For The Year 2016: The year 2016 is the year I discovered my purpose, and I started living according to my purpose in life. It is no doubt that many people are only existing and not living. As a child, I grew up in the appreciation of beauty of life; gifts, friends&family, godly-lifestyle. I have the privilege of knowing/meeting some great people in life, and these
have help in shaping my life.
2). I am Thankful For Writing/My Career. I am so thankful for my life as a journalist and the privilege to write or work with a German Newspaper (Die Rheinpfalz Zeitung). I was so passionate to
work as a journalist in Germany, and I didn't not know this will come to pass in my life. At the beginning of year 2016, I joined the green voice of hope gospel singers, and I always go to the choir
practice, the people took interest in me perhaps because I was the only African (black) in their midst. So they often asked me what I do for a living and I told them that i am a journalist because I studied
Mass Communication from the Nigerian Institude of Journalism where I obtained my Diploma in mass communication. So they told me to go to the local newspapers in my area maybe they will employ me. I remember 11th March 2016, I walked into the Rheinpfalz Newspaper office in Grünstadt, I spoke with the Editor that I am a journalist and I would like to work with them but he told me they would not be able to employed me then because my german language is not pefect to write...
I was not so happy but I asked the editor if we can take some pictures together? ( Können wir ein Bild zusammen machen?) and he said "yes" "ja" then we took some pictures together, then he asked me to give them my contacts, I did and left. Some hours later someone called me back and offered me the position to be writing/reporting for the culture page from the Africa perspective. On 16th April 2016, my first story appeared on the sport page. And ever since then, I have been writing for the Rheinpfalz Newspaper , and next year my story is coming up on the front page of the newspapers, which means the story is going to be circulated throughout the Rheinpfalz State how amazing! Super excited for 2017, I will strive to write more, I'm looking forward to completing my book manuscript.
3). I am Thankful For My Family: There are not more words in the world to describe the love of one family. Family love is said to be built on unconditional love. The Ebiniyi family is a very big family with royal blood from Ondo State but since we lost our parents our family has limited to only my immediate family even though that is not Africa culture because most Africans have closed relationship with their extended families unlike the Europeans who only stay in the nuclear family. So in the above picture is my younger sister, my brother-inlaw, my nieces, and my nephew. And of course my friends are part of my family and I really love and appreciate everyone of you for your love and support as well.
...my Germans family
4). Iam Thankful For My First Car in Germany: I worked so hard to bought my car. After walking in the cold for years. Although my husband had intended buying me one but I do not really like his choice of cars for me. I love cars and so I have had a dream car for a long time even though I didn't intended driving in Germany because I had thought I can always ride in my husband's car. Germany transportation system is better than what we have in my country; and for this reasons I decided not to drive in Germany but little did I know that those that drive have a better chance of getting a job... I must say, I am thankful for my car because it gets me from 'point A' to 'point B'. I'm still working hard in order to buy my dream car. It is not really easy to drive a big car in Germany due to tax and insurance unlike in my country of birth (Nigeria) where people drive big and exotic cars without any taxes and insurance. Only the very rich and wealthy people drive exotic cars in Germany. I am surprised even the very rich people in Germany have just two-three cars, while in Nigeria some rich people have more than five-to-ten cars parked in their compound yet Nigerians citizens are living below the poverty line. My thought!
5). I am Thankful For You Readers: Since I started writing my book I realized that writing is a battle, and to overcome this battle you have to believe in your ability to do so. See yourself as your own BOSS and Editor. Practice makes perfect' sometimes when i'm sleeping I will be composing a story in my mind. Sometimes I have sleepless nights because I needed to write down my ideas. I am not the best writer in the world but i am glad each time I chat or talk with people, I hear them says... "Queendaline why don't you write a book..." This has been a good year for my writing, I started writing my book at the beginning of this year, and my blog which you are reading now, I started blogging 2008, in 2017, it's going to mark exactly 9 years since I started blogging but I never write or share stories like I did last year.
Today is day 350 of my 365 days gratitude on Instagram, so far I have been enjoying the gratitude challenging and I can say I am blessed through this exercise. I did it without mentioning any names but JESUS. Thank you Lord Jesus for everything.
"This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD"- Psalms 102:18
What are you thankful for today? Please kindly drop your comments, in the comment box. Happy New Year Everyone! Greetings with a lot of love and blessings to you and yours!
