1:45am.

A good friend of mine made a major change in her life a few years back. She had a job that paid her more than decently but unfortunately also bored her to tears. She took the plunge, moved across the country, took a pay-cut but now has a job that she loves and is growing to be quite adept in. She travels and each day, learns something new and does tasks that challenge her . I admire this quality. If you don't like something in your life, stop bitching and change it.

More so, I admire this friend and many other girlfriends in my social circle who set goals for themselves. Goals that go above and beyond finding a good man and getting married. I'm not saying thats not an important stage in life. I think everyone should seek a partner in life and be stable in that relationship whether that involves a formal marital status or not. However, girls who feel the be and end all of their existence is to find a man and be married, I don't get and frankly, I don't want to get.

Life should be about accumulating stories. I look back on my short 26-years of life and am proud of my file folder full of good, juicy stories. I travelled, I almost failed a couple of classes in university, I had nights I can't really remember, I did stupid, foolish things with my friends just because they were stupid and foolish. I'm thankful that I did these things before I grew up and got a real job and a real relationship. I'm thankful that I have stories to tell and that I did things on my own and not on the arm of a man.

Should I ever be blessed with a little girl of my own, I will teach her to stand her own. To set goals, have adventures, travel, see the world, make mistakes and learn from them and then one day, find someone to do all those things with all over again.