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Uru Eke: Embracing the New Year! The Good, the Bad and the New Pursuits
It’s the season for gifts, re-unions and parties. You’ve called friends and extended family members you haven’t spoken to all year round. The gifts come in trickles – cupcakes, perfumes, and others you really don’t need. You are happy, but the holidays will fast be over and you are going to return back to life; the only significant change is that you have added a few pounds because of all that food and merriment, and it’s a new year!
It’s funny how life just seems to slip by whether we are ready or not. I can clearly remember when I was a teenager riding my bike in the neighbourhood, sneaking off to parties, trying to get a nice jewellery from my mother’s closet to flaunt with a new dress– it all seemed like yesterday! Now I’m all grown up pursuing dreams and weighing my chances by the usual factors – time, opportunity, talent, and relentless hard work.
I would like to say that I have 2013 all figured out, but I don’t. A new year is like a new boyfriend – you hope he has that same charisma like the former but should treat you better and remember to call! But then you go in hoping for the best, expecting the worst but silently praying for many nice surprises. In the end it all comes back to you – how well you played the chances given to you.
2012 came with its own cute little surprises that made me blush. I was on CNN to talk about Nollywood, I featured in some really nice movies and projects with renowned colleagues, I became the style ambassador of House of Dorcas, and graced notable events. I watched as my career took a leap. 2013 I’ll have to do it all over again – sustain the good, amend the not-so-good, and introduce some new pursuits. Now that brings us to that part – what resolutions are you making for the new year?
Apart from the burst of motivation that comes in January, resolutions can sap all your energy as you struggle to meet up with the demands you have placed on a new year. By February you are getting weary, things are not going as planned, and before the end of March you can’t deal with the emotional pressure. To console yourself and your inability to trudge along with a bag of resolution dragging you down, you throw the bag away, dust your slacks and move on. See?
So instead of the bogus pledges, let’s take one bite at a time – spread it out into months, it’s easier to achieve; and please stay away from those notorious ones like: “I vow to lose 10 pounds” “I vow to buy my first car and it must be a Range Rover” “I vow to marry the man of my dreams and have my wedding in Seychelles…”
I’m going to be very realistic with my resolutions. As much as I would like to feature alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in a Hollywood move, errr….it may not be happening next year, no need to beat myself to the wall about that. Life, like a bowl of cereal, requires one spoon at a time. All our dreams will eventually come to true, if we just keep working at it.
Happy Holidays!
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Uru Eke was nominated in 2011 for the ‘Best of Nollywood'(BON) awards for ‘Best upcoming Actress’ thereby ensuring a steady growth in her career in the film making business. Uru is a fiery, ambitious young lady who plans on succeeding at absolutely everything she sets her mind too, she didn’t leave a lucrative career in IT for acting to simply get by. In 5 years she aims to be named among Nigeria’s top actors and Producers.