As the year 2015 comes to an end and I reflect; I’m grateful for being blessed with the privilege to still be amongst the living.

I am grateful for good health, my family and for the opportunity given each day to work towards fulfilling my purpose and achieving my goals.

I am grateful for all the setbacks that needed to happen because they came with hard lessons I needed to learn and re-learn in order to transcend to the next level. The year 2015 changed me in ways I cannot begin to explain and my spiritual consciousness & awareness is on another level.

I have learned that other people’s opinions of me do not define me and that one closed door simply means that that door is not going to lead me to where I need to go and that the right door, will always remain open.

I have learned (still learning) to be patient with myself, to be perfectly still & trust HIM in moments of adversity.

We never really can have it our way all the time, in our place of work, in our homes, in our relationships, etc. Consciously making an effort to be patient and give time, time.  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

In a nutshell, I appreciate my personal growth, the lessons learned & unlearned, the friendships made & unmade, the strides made, the thresholds crossed, the woman I am right now and the woman I am becoming which fill me with optimism about the year 2016 and whatever it holds, because I believe that everything I’ve been through has prepared me for where I am heading to.

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Nkem is a New Media and PR Consultant, based in Lagos. She tweets @nkemonwudiwe

30 Days of Gratitude is a month-long series curated by Leading Ladies Africa. It chronicles the unique experiences of different African women, and presents them the opportunity to share their, life-learned lessons, dreams& aspirations, and their hopes for the future.

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Op-Ed Editor