A Decade & An Age

There’s this website where you can calculate the number of days you’ve been alive on this earth.

Accordingly, I have now been here on this earth for a total of 11,167 days.

I’m from the Millennial Generation. If you haven’t yet heard or read of these generational calculations, read this chart – it is a fascinating read indeed.

The Millennial Generation is people born roughly between the years 1980 till 2000. While I don’t fully agree with all the reports (such as this one titled ‘The Millennials, AKA The Narcissistic Tech Gurus’), there are some interesting facts to be found.

This article is more positive and upbeat about my generation:

‘The Millennials have begun to forge their (identity): confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.
They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They’re less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in history.’

Also, interestingly, millennials are more careful when it comes to other people:

‘Whether as a by-product of protective parents, the age of terrorism or a media culture that focuses on dangers, they cast a wary eye on human nature. Two-thirds say “you can’t be too careful” when dealing with people. Yet they are less skeptical than their elders of government. More so than other generations, they believe the government should do more to solve problems.’

On religion:

‘They are the least overtly religious generation in modern times. One-in-four are unaffiliated with any religion, far more than the share of older adults when they were ages 18 to 29. Yet not belonging does not necessarily mean not believing. Millennials pray about as often as their elders did in their own youth.’

On marriage:

‘In weighing their own life priorities, Millennials (like older adults) place parenthood and marriage far above career and financial success. But they aren’t rushing to the altar. Just one-in-five Millennials (21%) are married now, half the share of their parents’ generation at the same stage of life. About a third (34%) are parents, according to the Pew Research survey. We estimate that, in 2006, more than a third of 18 to 29-year-old women who gave birth were unmarried. This is a far higher share than was the case in earlier generations.’

I still lived with my parents up until I was 28. Then my father passed away, and now I live with my mother.

According to the Millennial statistics, this is not abnormal:

‘Millennials get along well with their parents. Looking back at their teenage years, Millennials report having had fewer spats with mom or dad than older adults say they had with their own parents when they were growing up. And now, hard times have kept a significant share of adult Millennials and their parents under the same roof. About one-in-eight older Millennials (ages 22 and older) say they’ve ‘boomeranged’ back to a parent’s home because of the recession.’

I’m only thirty years old, yet I’ve already lived in four eras. I was born in 1989, and today it’s the 1st of January, 2020.

There were three distinct times in my life (that I know of) where I almost died, so I consider it a privilege to still be alive. I got to see things I otherwise never would’ve been able to and experience things I never even dreamt of.

In honor of this new era that has now dawned, I’ve decided to highlight ten specific events that happened in each era of my life. By looking back, we can regain focus and look forward to the new moments that have yet to take place in our lives.

The 1980s – 2000s

Monday 5th of June, 1989, was a significant day for me, as this is the day I was born.
At six months, I got a fever and I almost died.
At the age of 2, I couldn’t speak yet. Hearing tests were done, and it was estimated that I have 97% hearing loss.
I got hearing aids in both ears (which brought up my hearing to 40%), and I learned how to lip-read and speak like a hearing person.
By Saturday, November 26th, 1994, I had lived 2,000 days.
My parents established a private school in my honor – Lifestyle Christian Academy – in Worcester, Western Cape. This is where I would go to school for the next 11 years.
I received my first award at the age of 7 – the Christian Character Award. I excelled at gymnastics and athletics.
I focused on ballet and drama and dreamt of becoming a professional ballet dancer.
I had great childhood friends and made wonderful childhood memories. I believe that when you have a good, solid childhood foundation, you can overcome almost anything in your adult life.
I was a prefect in primary school and enjoyed it immensely.

The 2000s – 2010s

By Wednesday, February 12th, 2003, I had lived 5,000 days.
At the age of 14, on Tuesday the 18th of November 2003, I was in a shooting accident. A hunting gun went off and the bullet hit me in my left shoulder. I almost died; miraculously, it was only a flesh wound and I recovered within two weeks.
I received my second award at the age of 15 – the Christian Character Award, again. I was made the Head Girl of my school as well.
I went to Nigeria two times and visited TB Joshua. We were trusting God for healing. I took of my hearing aids and wouldn’t hear a sound for the next 4 years.
I entered my first writing competition, the BRIO Girl Search. I came into the TOP 20, then the TOP 8. This competition kick-started my writing career.
I home-schooled the last two years of my school career. I also travelled to the USA for the first time (International Student Convention), as well as England to visit family.
2008 was the year that my white Danish cat, AllyCat, came into my life. He has brought me so much joy and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He has been my trusted shadow and companion now for almost 12 years.
For my gap year, I joined 13thFloor, a performing arts group. We trained for 4 months and then toured South Africa for 7 months.
I won Miss Deaf South Africa in 2009, as well as the title of Miss Deaf HESC (Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre – also the official sponsor of Miss Deaf SA).
I went on to compete in the Miss Deaf International pageant in Las Vegas, USA. I came in third, but the winner was later disqualified so I got the 2nd place instead.

The 2010s – 2020s

With my Miss Deaf SA title, I became a motivational speaker instead of focusing on charities (which is what most beauty queens focus on). To date, I have done over 195 motivational talks from 2009 until 2019.
I also became a published writer within this period, publishing over 212 writings, which includes magazines, newspapers, online websites, newsletters, etc. I also published two books during this period: Viva la Vicki, my Afrikaans memoir, and God Lief My, also in Afrikaans, which is a devotional for teens.
I travelled overseas three times: Israel (tour), USA (beauty pageant) and Prague (beauty pageant).
I appeared in a music video for Straatligkinders and had the leading role in a theatre play, Kinders Van Stilte, which was performed at the Vryfees and Aardklop, as well as in Worcester.
Around this time – in August of 2013 – my father and I were driving to Potchefstroom and a great and terrible wind came out of nowhere and almost drove my father and me off a bridge. To this day, I still can’t comprehend this incident that took place. We both almost died.
In 2013 and 2015 I got bilateral cochlear implants, which has brought up my hearing to 80%.
I experienced two heartbreaks around this time – the first one with a musician in 2013, and the second one I was engaged to be married to in 2016. We first postponed the wedding, then eventually the relationship was broken off.
I attended BSSM (Bethel School Of Supernatural Ministry) in Redding, California, and it changed my life forever. I was able to shed off the cloak of religion I hadn’t known I had, and I received complete and total emotional healing during those 9 months.
By Friday, October the 21st 2016, I had lived 10,000 days of my life.
This is also the era in which my father passed away. I am not yet ready to write about it, but maybe one day I will.

2020 – 2030:

With every new year comes the new year resolutions. I have small changes that I wish to make, and I already started with them in December 2019. Small things such as checking social media less per day, writing every week, lose 5 kilograms, watch one hour of television per night, no more coffee, drinking more water, take up dancing lessons again, etc.

These changes are easy to make, and I know I will achieve them.

My desire for the next decade is to recreate and redesign myself and my life:

I want to laugh more in the next decade; I don’t want to take life too seriously and I want to live it up a little bit more.
University – I wish to study and get a degree, hopefully at the University of Stellenbosch.
I have so many ideas and dreams for books that I want to write and get published. I want to write about what I want to write and read.
I plan on making vlogs and putting them on YouTube.
I’ve always wanted to make films, but for now, I’ll start small and make short films.
I trust and pray that I will meet my husband within the next 5 years, and get married.
With marriage, hopefully, children will come as well.
By Tuesday, the 1st of January, 2030, I will hopefully still be alive and be 40 years old.
My prayer is that my family (especiallly my mother and grandmother) will be alive, safe and well; my cat still alive (cats have been known to live up to 22 years), I will still have my good health and be in a good place financially, spiritually and emotionally.
Above all, I pray that my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will be stronger than ever before and that I will not have walked away from it. I pray that God will show me new heights and that I will have fresh encounters that will carry me through this life because life is tough and the mountains always keep coming.