Making Each Day Count

Kathie Lee Gifford, a famous media personality in America, is quoted to have asked, "Wouldn't it be a wonderful feeling to wake up in the morning and understand that no matter what goes on today, God can make something good out of it?"

That quote by Kathie Lee Gifford has inspired me to make each of my days count. I just don't want my days to be like they were in 2009. Okay, let me tell you more.

If you don't know my life history, let me inform you that I matriculated at a local university called JKUAT in May 2007 to pursue a degree in electronic & computer engineering. Somehow, I messed up at the university in my second year. That made me repeat class in 2009.

When I repeated my second year at JKUAT in 2009, I suffered from bouts of regret and loneliness. Regret for having messed up the previous year and loneliness for being surrounded by new faces in class while my former classmates had forged ahead with their studies to third year.

Due to that unhealthy concoction of regret and loneliness in my soul, I felt very unmotivated. Unlike the previous two years, I didn't read avidly, play the piano or attend church as I repeated class in 2009. The little I read were the course books whose knowledge didn't sink into my mind because of my lack of motivation.

My parents were unaware of the low moods I was frequently experiencing as I repeated class at JKUAT in 2009. They thought I was hard at studies. For how else can you explain that my father bought me an expensive and voluminous book on electrical measurements?

But how wrong my parents were if they thought I was hard at studies! I was actually infernally lazy, often spending my time sleeping, surfing the internet aimlessly, hanging out with feckless friends and watching the FIFA Confederations Cup. Not surprisingly, I dropped out of JKUAT in August 2009. And that made 2009 look like a wasted year for me.

In 2010 while I stayed at home pondering on what to do next with my life, I feared the year could also go down the drain. But then, I picked John Mason's Conquering an Enemy Called Average. And wow! The book invigorated my spirits and reconnected me to my true self.

And when I enrolled at the University of Nairobi (UoN) in September 2010 to pursue a less demanding degree than the one I had studied at JKUAT, my enthusiasm soared higher. I enjoyed learning my new course and interacting with the friends I made at the university.

Although I didn't finish my degree course at UoN due to financial constraints, at least I discovered I could write. It was during my time at the university that I set up my first blog. And since then, I have never looked back.

Blogging has infused me with a zest for living. I love connecting with people all over the world through the stories and videos I post on this blog. And I hope some youngsters out there get inspired by my blog the way John Mason's Conquering an Enemy Called Average invigorated me in 2010 when I was at a low ebb.

Over the past seven years since I rebranded this blog to what it looks like now, I have felt my years become more meaningful. They have not been like 2009 which was more of a waste for me.

After being inspired by the words of Kathie Lee Gifford that I have quoted above, I recently thought it wise to shift my focus from years to days by making each of my days count and letting the years take care of themselves. I have therefore resolved to keep rising before dawn every day to engage in my hobbies regardless of what has happened the previous day.

It has dawned on me that we often lose ordinary moments of living by focusing too much on the big events of our lives. But life is too precious to let any day go to waste. That's why I have resolved to make each of my days count. I will seize ordinary days and make them extraordinary.

My beloved reader, I challenge you to also make each of your days count. Don't idle at home or in your workplace. Instead, perfect your work or find a meaningful hobby to occupy your time. Or to borrow the words of Kathie Lee Gifford, make something good out of each day. Ciao!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on making each day count, you might also enjoy another one on "Some Bad Days I Once Had" which I wrote about five years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.