“Justin Bieber,” Amira responds, not taking Mikaya seriously – she knows she can get over-the-top dramatic for no apparent reason.

“Mscheeew! Your husband and your boyfriend!” Mikaya whispers over the phone.

“Who?” Amira asks, not sure what Mikaya is talking about. Before Amira can get more details, Mikaya breathlessly bursts into her office only to find Amira with a client.

Mikaya apologizes, walks out, then 10 seconds later, knocks on her door, scratching her head, and says, “Can I see you for a second? It’s urgent!”

Having noticed that Mikaya is not bluffing, Amira excuses herself, quickly following her. “They are at our manager’s office,” Mikaya says as she walks a stride faster.

“I pray for your own sake you are not pranking me,” Amira hisses nervously between her teeth.

As the two men emerge from the manager’s office, they spot each other at the same time. Willis waves at them with a stellar smile curved on his lips. They wave back as Amira reluctantly walks toward her husband, who is standing right next to Zane. “Shit! Shit! Shit! How the hell did I get myself into such a mess!” She mutters to herself.

“What are you doing here?” She asks in a surprised tone as she gets two meters in their range.

“Hey, come say Hi first,” Willis says with open arms.

She gives him a hurried hug and then awkwardly shakes Zane’s hand. “Just happened to be around and then decided to drop by to see my buddy. I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up,” Willis explains.

“You did?” Amira asks as she nervously rubs the back of her arm with her nails. The stinging pain alerts her that she’s badly scratched herself…

More on: With Eyes Wide Closed

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See the Synopsis of With Eyes Wide Open Novel

The anxiety, the hope, the uncertainty…. It’s as if it reflects life in general and 99% of my life. I especially love that the author picked a familiar beginning of the story, but that the experience of Joy was totally different compared to the typical storylines of teen mothers we usually get. The story, just like life itself, doesn’t conform to the typical “norms” society has created, thus making it original.

Natela Is Pushed Against the Wall

The sexual assault on Natela and yet not immediately getting angry at the perpetrator is an aspect I also found intriguing and quite relatable. It shows that, in some instances, someone will not always react in the way expected by all. A lack of immediate reaction could also mean a different way of dealing with trauma for some people. It could also mean that sometimes the victim might not understand the weighty impact of the injustice done to them and may want to seek justice in the future when they fully understand.

The mother being the one to chase her daughter mercilessly without hearing her side of the story is very ironic, considering she had also been unfaithful in her marriage. Maybe it’s because her daughter reminded her of her mistakes. Listening to our children is a skill most parents need to acquire these days, and guiding a child once they’ve made a mistake is also very crucial, especially since mental health is a current issue. Joy was lucky she had the will to leave. Most people in her shoes would instead commit suicide.

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The Nice One’s Finish Last But…

People like Caali are the best people in the world; they are kind-hearted, always willing to help, and always go out of their way to help strangers. The other similar character is Mama T, who, despite suffering and losing her daughter and all finances, still had a heart willing to help. Not forgetting the bodaboda driver who took Natela from the hospital despite her pregnancy and still wanted to take care of her and her baby.

The only problem is that, in reality, they are usually either doing the least paying jobs, suffering, being forgotten, termed creepy, or remembered last for their kindness, just as portrayed in the novel. If we were all mostly humane, such people should be the first to be recognized. The only advantage they have is their power to be content knowing they helped someone out. Peace of mind. God bless them.

Infertility/Childlessness

Impotency is also a major issue that is slowly arising. Whether it’s natural or a result of certain practices, it is rarely mentioned in literary works. It is also a very difficult thing for most men to accept. When a woman can’t get pregnant soon enough, everyone automatically labels her “barren”. Nobody ever thinks of the possibility that the man could be the impotent one.

The rumors and misconceptions that are pinned on ladies who don’t easily get pregnant are also not true most of the times. For example, the allegations that Joy’s mother might have had an abortion before are the probable reason why she was not getting pregnant.

A Messed-up Religious Family

The story also tackles a huge family issue, dishonesty. It is alarming that the number of fathers who support children thinking the children are theirs yet the children are another man’s, who is probably taking care of other children who do not think that they are his. Some never discover till they die, unfortunately.

I also enjoyed that the protagonist did not suffer all the time. She had a good 3 years of enjoying the money she was lucky to get. The issue of child trafficking, blackmail, drug dealing, and fraud have also been tackled clearly. Another aspect I admire is the friendship between Wanda and Natela. Despite their misunderstandings, Joy still sticks to her side to the end. Is it true friendship or is the best friend thing just overrated?

Joy’s younger brother’s condescending attitude is a problem elder siblings generally face. Most younger siblings feel entitled to privileges from their elder siblings, especially money. They tend to hurl back words or remind their elder siblings of their past mistakes when not given what they want. It’s like cutting the hand that feeds you yet expecting to still eat normally.

About Natela’s biological father…. That was really an unexpected twist to the story. I don’t know how to describe it. Being a Christian obliges me not to believe in curses, but my traditional beliefs do believe in curses. Maybe their relationship had something to do with the Oedipus complex. Either way, that must have been really a shock for the two. That was such a sad outcome for Natela, especially now that she was ready to settle down.

A Few Issues

There were some minor avoidable grammatical errors (I’m sure this will be improved). My copy also missed a few pages. The translation from Swahili to English also needs some sharpening. Some translations were off.

Language Use In With Eyes Wide Open Novel

The novel’s highlight is the use of Swahili/ Sheng’ in some contexts to bring the message home. There’s always something lost in translation sometimes and understanding it from the language and culture of the people makes it outstanding.

Being a natural talker and a passionate analyzer, I could write much more, but that would not be cool. If I could summarize my POV in a poem, I would.

This is a must-read for both young and mature people.

With Eyes Wide Open, a Kenyan Novel Review by: Joan Joy

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‘Why do young people often fail in Business?’ This is a question asked by many, yet only a few get to figure it out.

For young entrepreneurs, creating and implementing new entrepreneur ideas often calls for a blend of cunning ingenuity, luck, and lots of guts. These are accompanied by a huge serving of anxiety and fear; should the business go south leaving you high and dry, if not in tears/crisis.

Related: Become a Top Seller: What Great Salespeople Do

Also Read: Need a Rock Star Team? Try These Employee Motivation Ideas

However, this need not necessarily be the case. By learning the most common mistakes made by young entrepreneurs especially when starting out, you will effectively avoid the following business pitfalls.

1. Capital! Capital! I Need Capital!

Yes, this is the song that everyone sings when planning to start or expand their business. Unfortunately, it is also one of the greatest reasons why businesses fail before they even start. A common mistake that most young entrepreneurs make is to assume that capital entirely refers to the business start up costs in terms of liquid cash.

Though money is part of the equation, there is more to what capital entails. Capital refers to assets or resources needed to leverage the growth of your business. Such resources include labor, skill, time, money, networks, storage facilities, land, production machinery and other physical assets.

Here’s a way to start a business with no capital: Free! Getting Started To Make Money Online Free.

The good news is that even the top business entrepreneurs do not have all the capital they need to succeed. Greater news is that everyone has got some kind of capital with them.

The only thing you have to do is to make the best use of the little capital you have, whether it is skill or time. Once you have started your business, you can then focus on continually expanding your capital base for your business to grow.

2. You Peg Your Business On Luck

It is common to hear people say that so and so got lucky that his/her business is thriving. Successful young entrepreneurs understand that business success is not as a result of luck or magic. It’s math.

It’s as a result of well-calculated effort and strategy. This includes investing in the right industry or niche, offering quality products/services and customer service, smart marketing, originality among other things. Luck only finds the prepared ones.

3. The Need To Get Rich Quick

This is the greatest tragedy that plagues most young entrepreneurs out there. They want to make millions within the first or second year of their business. I am not saying this is not possible though.

The problem with this mentality is that when you don’t get the desired results fast enough, you tend to get frustrated and eventually quit. This cycle may go on in the next five or 10 new entrepreneur ideas you try to venture into.

Related: How To Change Your Mind To Achieve Time and Financial Freedom

Eventually, you will assume that entrepreneurship is not for you. This brings us to the next pitfall.

4. Lack Of Persistence.

Successful young entrepreneurs understand that persistence is one of the most critical elements that will guarantee success. To cultivate persistence, forget about getting rich quick.

Focus on the value you are creating for your clients, skills you are learning in the process and the success you will achieve in the long run. In most instances, business growth is a slow but gradual process.

For you to become a top business entrepreneur patience and persistence is a virtue you will have to learn.

5. All Talk But No Action.

Even the best of us are guilty of this. We tend to talk about the great ideas we are about to implement, but never act on them. Of course, you will always find excuses not to actualize them.

A common one is lack of capital, time, experience etc. The single most important secret to attain success in business is to learn to act on your new ideas an plans immediately.

Read: Shocking Reasons Why Quarter Life Crisis is Now a Rite of Passage

6. Failure To Consult Top Business Entrepreneurs

When starting out, you need a lot of hand-holding to avoid making fatal mistakes. The only way to achieve this is by consulting other successful entrepreneurs. This way, you will learn ways to raise capital by accessing business start up loans, how to reduce business start up costs, assess the viability of your business ideas among other things.

The Takeaway

When it comes to entrepreneurship, there is no one-size-fits-all formula. It is all about making your formula work, testing it and then readjusting it to make it work better. This is usually not a piece of cake. However, the more you fail in your venture, the closure to getting it right, as long as you keep adjusting your strategy.

For those planning to start an online business, here’ a Quick Way To Start Delivery Service Business At Home.

Eric Gichuru

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1. Do not settle for the average

It is another year and the best thing you can do for yourself is not to settle for the average. Challenge the status quo.

2. Forget New Year’s Resolutions think personal growth each day

We naively tend to think that the New Year will magically give us the motivation, and strength to change ourselves; however what really makes the difference is consciously progressively implementing positive change in our lives.

3. Do what you love

Follow your own way and avoid following the crowd; you will not only enjoy the process but you will also attain success.

4. Failure also has a greater lesson to teach

Learn from failure stories as well, they have a bigger lesson to teach

 5. Make a career plan

Where and who do you want to be in five or 10 years from now. Start being that person NOW!

6. Kill the bad habits

Stop wasting time, money and energy being with people that do not lead you to the right direction; watching porn, or partying too much.

7. Be Ambitious but also plan

Ambition and planning go hand in hand, you need to think big but also plan on the small scale implementing your dreams in small portions.

8. Be creative

Creativity does not always come naturally; it is a conscious effort to be innovative, different and better.

9. Read self-help books

Enables you to be your own therapist and fix your problems more effectively.

10. Create powerful habits.

Positive habits magically multiply personal success.

11. Pursue an interesting hobby

It will not only improve your quality of life by also fast track your career.

12. Cultivate emotional intelligence

Cultivate the ability to recognize and understand your emotions and how they affect you and those around you.

13. Become a natural leader

Stop taking a the back seat in your life, be active, serve, solve problems, and be the person people come to when they have problems because you are reliable and capable.

14. Continually improve your life

You need to adopt an attitude to progressively make positive change in your life and life-long learning.

15. Love yourself

You need to make changes in your life that makes you the person you would want to be. It is a matter of holistic personal growth that that includes, boosting your confidence and self-esteem, putting your health, emotions and family first.

16. Be practical.

It is all about being realistic and the same time being positive and learning from your mistakes.

17 Avoid being materialistic.

This breeds greed, the need to create shortcuts and lack of respect and value for other people; a perfect recipe for failure.

18. Be a good listener

Attracts people to you enabling you to meet new people

19. Give it your Best

Always put in 100% of your effort in everything you do.

20. Stop Trying To impress

Avoid trying to impress, whether opposite or same sex. Confident people have nothing to show off or prove.

21. Improve your communication skills

Improve negotiation and communication skills – seek to understand before being understood.

22. Understand work politics.

Will enable you to learn the do’s and the don’ts; and help you know how climb up the corporate ladder quickly. The idea here is to be smart.

23. Don’t be an open book

Avoid expressing everything, and be a little mysterious. Some wars can be won without even lifting a finger.

24. Teach others

Teaching others is one of the fastest ways to practice and learn something new.

25. Spend time with great and creative people.

True to the saying, ‘birds of a feather flock together’. You become like the people you associate with.

26. Be disciplined.

Entails, being consistent and unwavering in whatever you are doing

27. Become a professional

Be the best in whatever you are doing

28. Attain the necessary skills

Attend workshops, training and also enroll to various classes to get the necessary skills to take you to the next level.

29. Be curious

Curious people tend to be more successful because they show interest ask more questions and get to learn more.

30. Do not procrastinate

Do what need to be done now, and not later.

31. Look good/ Presentable

People do judge a book by its cover

32. Keep fit

Take a good diet, work out regularly; it is not only good for your confidence but also keeps you mentally sharp.

33. Rise up early

You are most productive in the morning when your body and mind are fresh and rested.

34. Do volunteer jobs.

Will help you gain experience and recognition.

35. Help people

It is not only self-fulfilling but also has a way of always coming back to you.

Eric Gichuru

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May be you are resolving to be more active in office meetings, to leave your dead-end job, end the bad relationship that is taking you nowhere, start your own business, quit smoking, save more…the list is endless. However, the bitter truth is that change is hard. I do not mean to be the prophet of doom to your new found zeal; it is just that I have to tell it to like it really is.

Most of us can related well with this vicious cycle: You are all jazzed and motivated in January with great plans and goals for the new year only to find yourself a few weeks later demotivated and totally derailed. Eventually, you lose the zeal and return back to your comfort zone and/or old habits, thus you never attain your full potential despite your best intentions.

Does that sound like you? Trust me you are not the only one. Research indicates about half of world population makes New Year’s resolutions, and only less than 10% achieves them.

Well, am here to save you from the agony of setting yourself up for failure by planning huge and radical changes in your life that you will never achieve. This is the reason why am presenting with 10 reasons you should avoid new year’s resolutions but instead focus on progressive personal growth which will impact positively all aspects of your lives all year round.

1. Do what you love and Follow Your Passion

I know you have heard this like a million times and already has become such a cliché. However, the reason why you have heard it so many times is that because it works and also probably the reason why you are leading a miserable life is that you might have ignored this fact.

Yes we all have bills to pay and sometimes we have to do what we have to do to survive that we barely have time to think of what we love doing. Am not telling you to go ahead and submit your resignation letter tomorrow, but if you are in a job that you do not love, start planning to leave the job early enough otherwise it will be like jumping off the frying pan into the real fire. This also applies in other aspects of life.

This can involve, acquiring new skills that will get you the job you want, or even networking more to set yourself up for more opportunities. The bottom line is Follow your own way and avoid following the crowd and you will attain success. Chase your dreams and vision to the greatest depths and heights; they will surely bring you success.

Revealed! 7 Hidden Secrets Behind Steve Jobs Success

2. Learn from failure stories as well

We all love a happy ending or rather a success story and then imagine ourselves being in that position – I am as well very guilty of this. We tend to look for mentors who have attained great success, but have little time for us. Sometimes I wonder whether people think that success is contagious; am really not sure about that.

We tend to focus only on the success stories and forget that failure stories have a bigger lesson to teach. Understand why they failed and learn from it. You can as well learn from your own failures.

3. Be Ambitious but also plan

The reasons why our new year’s resolutions miserably fail is that we are all ambitious but lack a plan. What creates lasting change is less about the willpower and more on by creating smart, effective goals. Ambition and planning go hand in hand, you need to think big but also plan on the small scale dividing the into smaller portions.

4. Be creative

When was the last time you were creative about anything? Do you do everything just like the rest of the people? Do you zombie to and from your dead end job just like everybody, and wait for that merger salary at the end of the month? This is just an example of how we accept the status quo in our lives, and never push our boundaries. It is important to remember that Creativity does not always come naturally; it is a conscious effort to be innovative, different and better.

5. Read self-help books

Be your own therapist, you know your own problems and weaknesses better than anyone else. You can effectively fix them by conditioning you mind to the right state though reading self-help Books such as The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, The Power of Now-Echkart Tolle, Outliers among others, which will condition your mind towards growth.

6. Create powerful habits.

We are habit forming creatures; habits bring order in our lives enabling us to do things easily or rather automatically without much effort. In fact, our character and personalities are largely defined by our habits.

With that said, it is important to choose our habits carefully, because once we get hooked on them, it is very hard to change them. Thus, it is important for you to create powerful positive habits such as, hard work, commitment, compassion, emotional intelligence etc. which will magically multiply personal success.

I do not have to spell it to you where the negative habits will lead you…I will just name a few anyway, broken families, broken relationships, prison, low self-worth…

7. Cultivate emotional intelligence

Trust me it is not as complicated as it sounds. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand your emotions and how they affect you and those around you. If you master this secret weapon, you will have achieved leaps and bounds in terms of personal growth and career success. Magically, you will notice that, you are becoming a better negotiator, a better leader, a growing career and you have a more fulfilling social circle. You can control the rest of the world if you can master how to control and use your emotions effectively.

8. Pursue an interesting hobby

It will not only improve your quality of life by also fast track your career. Pursuing your hobbies can be compared to adding salt to salt less food. In other words, it spices up your life and gives it more meaning. Most people live in boring loops, eat, work, sleep repeat…excessive drinking of alcohol or partying hard, womanizing etc, is not a hobby; it is just a bad habit!

9. Continually improve your life

You need to adopt an attitude to progressively make positive change in your life and life-long learning. Thus, waiting for the New Year to make drastic changes in your life is such a bad idea; effective change is achieved progressively with time and not drastically.

10. Love yourself

This is a very wide topic, I can go all day talking about things you can do to love yourself and I will not be even halfway through. The point is you need to make changes in your life that makes you the person you would want to be. It is a matter of holistic personal growth that that includes, boosting your confidence and self-esteem, putting your health, emotions and family first. For instance, if you do not like the fact that you are overweight, then do something about it or if you want a job that requires some skills, then go ahead and learn them.

10 Healthy Eating Tips For Weight Loss

As previously stated; am here to save you from the agony of setting yourself up for failure by planning huge and radical changes in your life that you will never achieve. This is the reason why I have presented you with 10 reasons you should avoid New Year’s resolutions but instead focus on progressive personal growth which will impact positively all aspects of your lives.

The above list of reasons on why  you should avoid New Year’s resolutions is not exhaustive; there are many more thing you can do to make your personal growth up to 10 times faster.  See 35 Amazing Tips To Make Your Personal Growth 10 Times Faster for a more comprehensive summery. For those who might want to question the credibility of these tips, I give to you that am not a doctor nor a psychiatrist; what I am is an enthusiastic researcher who gets inspirations from professionals and research from various fields topped up with real life experience and a little bit of common sense.

Eric Gichuru

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1. A healthy diet for weight loss should include a wide variety of foods.

The secret is to keep your meals balanced. A balanced meal is automatically healthy and satisfying. Fill half of your plate with lots of salad and vegetables and the other half should consist of healthy carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, brown rice and lean protein-rich foods like lean meat, fish, chicken, pulses, tofu or Quorn.

2. Eat low fat

Fatty foods like cheese add lots of unnecessary calories to your body. For you to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. A gram of fat contains more than twice the amount of calories a gram of carbohydrate or protein. Thus, it is imperative to avoid fatty foods. Just as it is important to select healthy food, it is also vital to consider how these foods are prepared. Fried foods, particularly deep-fried foods, contain a large amount of fat and should be avoided.

3. Don’t over eat

You need to be sure that you are feeling hungry and not craving before you start eating. Hunger is a signal from your body that you need to refuel which is easily satisfied while cravings cannot be satisfied by eating. Avoid overeating at all cost. To avoid over eating, consume reasonable portions of food. After you have eaten, you should feel better and not bloated, stuffed or tired.

4. Eat foods rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants

Healthy unprocessed foods, such as fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains contain essential vitamins, antioxidants and minerals which improve your immunity, and you can eat as much as you want without adding weight. These foods contain few calories, thus for you to lose weight, you should switch from processed foods with high calories content to foods rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

5. Drink less alcohol

One innocent-looking cosmopolitan or margarita can store up hundreds of calories in your body. If you have to, take alcohol in moderation or stick to a light beer, a glass of wine, or vodka and soda which have less calorie content.

6. Don’t skip meals

Taking regular meals, starting with a heavy breakfast, stabilizes your blood sugar levels and regulates your appetite by keeping hunger pangs away to prevent pigging out during lunch and other meals. Thus, skipping meals is likely to cause emotional eating which in turn will make you add weight. Taking healthy regular meals leads to long term weight control success.

7. Drink more water

Clinical research recommends taking at least 6 to 8 cups or glasses of water or other low calorie drinks over the day. You may need to take more water if you are exercising or it’s hot. Drinking plenty of water helps you feel less hungry and prevents you from mistaking thirst with hunger.

8. Remove unhealthy foods from your pantry and refrigerator

You should have control of what comes in your kitchen. Stock your pantry and refrigerator with healthy convenience foods and remove all unhealthy foods from your house. Having healthy meals-in-minutes staples and healthy ready-to-eat snacks in your refrigerator sets you up for success because you are less likely to go to the mall to get pizza and other unhealthy foods.

9. Choose healthy snacks

Research indicates that you are more likely to end up eating or snacking mindless after dinner, when you finally take time to relax. If you cannot avoid snacking, just snack but do it smartly. It is better to satisfy your craving with a healthy snack than holding back and later to risk pigging out on junk-food. Some of healthy snacks include filling, protein-packed snacks, like a tablespoon of peanut butter applied on a slice of whole grain bread or one stick of string cheese.

10. Have a healthy foods shopping list to avoid buying unhealthy foods.
Just as mentioned earlier, you should have control of what comes in your kitchen. To properly achieve this, have a healthy foods shopping list when going for shopping to avoid buying unhealthy foods. Some items you can include in your shopping list include:

• 94% fat-free microwave popcorn
• A few containers of pre-cooked brown rice
• Frozen vegetables
• Canned beans
• Pre-cooked grilled chicken breasts
• Canned diced tomatoes
• Bags of pre-washed greens
• Whole-grain wraps or pitas

When you start implementing the above 10 Healthy Eating Tips For Weight Loss, you will be on the right track to achieving your desired results. To get a similar article in your blog, make an order at writepoint.

Eric Gichuru

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