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lipstickandblackcoffee

~ To A Life Worth Living xo

lipstickandblackcoffee

Tag Archives: Hardship

Something’s Afoot.

01 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by Irene Ephraim in Experiences, Lessons Learnt, Life, Motivation

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career, Challenges, death, Finances, growth, Hardship, Job, life, Money, Pains, relationship, Six Months, Speaker, Year

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I don’t know how its been for you (I hope great), but the first 6 months of this year for myself and many others that I know, was rough, still is.

From deaths, loss of jobs, work issues, financial hardship, strained relationships, the list goes on. It’s been too strange, too common, too frequent, too harsh. I started to think, is this a universal shift for a specific set of people? I wanted out. Knowing others were having a hard time too, did not alleviate the weight of struggle- misery in fact does not always love company.

Having said that, I believe another transition is upon us. A glow up of sorts. Something better than what was. Ms O(prah) said what happens to you is for you and that shift in perspective can empower you to think and act differently. Attempting to ignore or rush it, will not make things change quicker, let it breathe

As cliche as this is about to sound I wouldn’t be who I am When I think about some of the difficult times I’ve had, it always made me better, always. A better communicator, better skilled, more compassionate, more loving, more understanding, more forgiving, disciplined, smarter and much more. Did it feel like all these things at the time? Um **** no, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that I have always gained more and become larger than before.

Let the growing pains work for you by allowing it the space to evolve and for you evolve with it, because what is coming is better than what is gone.

Irene xo

 

“I Woke Up Like This”

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by Irene Ephraim in Lessons Learnt, More Action, Relationships

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Hardship, Marriage, Men, Relationships, Trials, Women

709d80aa-886d-48f8-945a-e13d48d6479fLast week I was a bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding. It was beautiful, a true blessing.

In the midst of celebrations I had reflective moments as I usually do in these situations. I thought about how wonderful all the different relationships (friends, relatives, couples) were, however, I was quickly reminded that things were not always so and getting here was in short, a real conscious effort…But here we all were celebrating, reaping the work of our hands in more ways than one.

Isn’t it how we look at all good things? That they just are, that there wasn’t a process, growing pains, or a lot of challenging work involved to make it what it is.

We often forget or choose to ignore the behind the scenes and just glorify the highlights. Those highlights are nothing without the graft. It could not would not exist without an individual/s choosing to show up and participate in ALL the parts required to achieve a goal.

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If you want something you cannot pick and choose the bits you want to deal with and avoid the ones you don’t. You’re either all in or out, straddling the fence isn’t permitted.

Usain Bolt pre-retirement would train all year round for possibly a 10 second race a few times a year. Let that sink in. A 10 second race.

Beautiful, wonderful things are sometimes cultivated.

So the next time you see something great, think about what it might have taken to get there and let that reinforce what you do. Don’t ever get twisted thinking that anyone has it easy, everyone pays a price, the question is whether you want to?

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Xo

Nobody is Coming to Save You.

04 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by Irene Ephraim in Experiences, Life, More Action, Thoughts in motion

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Tags

Goals, Hardship, Iron Man, life, new year, Superhero, writer

We’re a few days into the New Year, how is it going for you? I really hope it’s been amazing so far.

As for me, it was going great until all grades of shit hit the fan.Think of fresh baby poo flung onto the ceiling, it’s disgusting isn’t it?! That’s the kick life has just given me.

*Big fat, humongous sigh* Can I live?! Universe please cut me some slack at least for 12 months (and or the rest of my life), pleaserrrhh?! Do I have to get on my knees and beg? I’ll do it I promise you I will.

I wish I had a Clark Kent, so he could transport me anywhere I needed to be, most especially in times of conflict, or an Iron Man because he’s innovative, funny and loaded, or a batman, well actually, maybe not batman, he’s fallen off but you get my drift.

The reality is there are no superheroes hanging around, no one is coming to save you. Be your own hero and help yourself in any way you possibly can. That’s not to say there will not be some amazing people to assist you along the way, but before that happens you would have had to have (*I hate that I used had/have 3 times in a row, ugh!) made significant progress on your own. You must exhaust all opportunities and options available to you, you have to be proactive!

Definition of proactive: Creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

The above definition sums up perfectly what we need to be doing regularly. I happen to find myself in the latter part, which is always a pain to rectify.

Where you end up in the next few months is largely down to you and the actions that you repeatedly take. Don’t fancy being in the same position this time next year? Change.

Decide that no matter what, you are going to accomplish your goals and conquer your problems. You can do it, you just have to keep trying constantly until there’s a crack that you can eventually bust wide open.

Take any set back as a great opportunity for a better come up. Don’t even sweat it.

Xo

P.s I promise in my next post I’m going to be a huge ball of positive energy, even if it is that I’m faking it. I think I owe it to you guys to give you some oomph, some va va voom, some voulez-vous coucher avec moi, too much? Okay bye.

*I was really struggling to restructure that sentence, so erm yeah, sorry not sorry. Wait, could you have written that differently? Help me out here.

Why Didn’t You Warn Me?!

Why Didn't You Warn Me?!

Why Didn't You Warn Me?! is a podcast speaking on the things you should know, but don't. The things you typically find out after the fact, and it's sometimes too late. Fear not, Why Didn't You Warn Me?! with Irene aka Lipstick, will give you the 411 through story-telling, conversations, and refreshing perspectives.

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