JOURNEY

• March 1, 2023 – In a recent Leadership Development Workshop, we explored the question, “How can you make sure the pain of your past doesn’t determine your future?” What stood out and meant the most to you in this workshop? Didier said: “The pain of my past should not define my future and I have two points to support this: 1. Learning to forgive: This might be forgiving yourself for the bad choices you made that led to the pain or even forgiving someone whose actions had a negative impact on you and caused you pain. Forgiving others and yourself sets you free to create your better future. 2. Letting go of the past: Referring myself to the idea that “your past does not define you unless you allow it to.” Allowing the pain you had in the past to define your future should not be an option, instead let go of the past and focus on the future. However, the pain of your past may act as a teacher to guide you in the future but in the end you must be a good student and choose what is right for you and create the future you want.”
• September 8, 2022 – Didier discussed the biggest change in his life since the end of the COVID restrictions: “The biggest change in my life after pandemic restrictions is that I developed a habit of saving for bad days, which I did not have at first. I’m always keeping in mind that bad days could come anytime, and so it is necessary to keep something in case the bad days come so you aren’t as impacted.”
• September 13, 2021 – Didier shared his favorite song and what it means to him: “This is a song called STRONGER by Kelly Clarkson: https://youtu.be/Xn676-fLq7I. It’s a story of a girl, Kelly, who was betrayed by her boyfriend. Her friends would tell her that they saw her boyfriend with other girls outside and she felt lonely. But her mother, after realizing all her daughter was passing through, told her that “what doesn’t kill you is going to make you stronger and it’s not going to kill you.” And so this applies to our daily life full of ups and downs. All we pass through will not kill us, but makes us stronger every day. We just can’t give up.
• July 16, 2021 – Didier shared what resilience means to him: “I understand resilience as the ability of someone to recover from difficulties or the strength to handle hardships and stress. A good example is how Rwandans tried all the best to recover from the pain and scars of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi… That’s resilience!”
• March 1, 2021 – Didier said his biggest lessons from 2020 were: “My 2 biggest lessons from 2020: The first lesson was to be RESILIENT. After the effects brought by Covid-19 such as losing loved ones, losing jobs… People were supposed to rebuild their lives back from all that. Another lesson is to learn how to SAVE… SAVING for bad days was also a big lesson. Bad days may come accidentally, son when you earn, save a little, which may save you from some days.”