My most considered, like, "successful" moment of my life was the worst
The most depressed I've ever been Literally feeling like I'd probably be happier if I was just dead
I got a number one on Billboard, my song is massive right now
Like I may never have a song this big again
My tour, I think every date sold out except one date
So I literally had everything that I had always dreamed of happening (Yeah) And I felt... I didn't feel happy at all
And so I think what happened was I spiralled really bad
'Cause I was like, "I'm here, and if this is it, there's gotta be more for me
'Cause if this is it, like, it's not gonna work"
NF
That’s the interlude to NF’s album, The Search, that debuted at No1 on the Billboard charts in back in July. I didn’t know about it until recently. Exploring his work impacted me as I watched his videos wondering why isn’t he The Joker. He has 4.5 Million YouTube subscribers and has had about 50 million views per song from his latest album. With a recent survey showing that kids 8 to 12 in the UK and USA would rather be a youtube star than a teacher, professional athlete, musician or astronaut. The interlude resonates as a deep reflection of our 21st century society.
So this is christmas
Christmas is one of the busiest times for mental health services. As way too many of us take stock of their lives and admit that they aren’t where they want to be.
I know what that’s like. I’ve been there before.
I’ve been in so much pain before at Christmas time, that I’ve sat on the banks of a still quiet river, a raging torrent of emotion. Thankfully I used the page as my outlet and I’m still here to encourage you to keep going.
Whatever you are thinking and feeling, just as the Christmas season will pass so to do emotions. One of the best analogies I’ve ever heard about emotions was that they were like clouds. They come and they go. Making decisions based on them isn’t healthy.
My christmas gift to you
So if no one else this Christmas season tells you, please allow me:
You are loved, even if you don’t feel it.
You are beautiful, even if you doubt it.
You have a purpose and a reason to live, even if you don’t believe it.
Celebrating Jesus’ birth and not acknowledging those facts would be selling his life short. The life he came to give us wasn’t just to save us from hell and spend eternity with him in heaven. That would be selling his gift for pennies on the dollar.
So if this is the only gift someone gives you this Christmas let me give you one that could make 2020 a year you want to unwrap every moment of everyday.
He came because he missed his family. If you’re still reading this post I’m assuming you know what that feels like. He wanted to restore the broken relationship with his sons and daughters. So if you desire to reconcile with loved ones in your life I encourage you to seek Jesus help in that regard.
I’ve been unpacking the story of the prodigal son in the bible more than ever before. I don’t think I realised before just how much was in that story. The father not seeing what his son had done, where he’d been, who he’d been with, the inheritance he’d wasted. He looked past all his choices with loving arms wide open.
May this Christmas be one that charts a fork in the river of your life.
May 2020 be one that sees you travelling into uncharted territory.
“It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did … for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him.” -Frederick Buechner
Next Year: 2020
Neville Hiatt’s previous posts for Press Services International can be read here. He spent a decade working for Radio Stations before his career was intermissioned by someone in a hurry to get home from work. He now runs http://nevillehiatt.com where he shares his desire to Inspire, Create, Motivate, and Educate through his photography, poetry and short stories. He also blogs for http://altcoincollege.com/ covering the way cryptocurrencies and blockchain are changing our world.
Neville Hiatt was the 2020 Press Services International Tronson Senior Writers Award Winner for Australia. His previous posts for can be read here.
He spent a decade working for Radio Stations before his career was intermissioned by someone in a hurry to get home from work. For more of his award winning creativity visit http://nevillehiatt.com.
He also blogs for http://altcoincollege.com/covering the way cryptocurrencies and blockchain are changing our world.