The world around me does not make me what I am, it reveals who I am”
Finding the road to a dream
So I hit the ground running – AU What’s Up? Feeling forever young, expecting the best but prepared for the rest. So far so good. I think DC likes me; I just need to return her calling. I had my mind framed on the three things that had brought me this far, stay positive, stay sharp and trust the process. The goal was not to change myself to fit the standard but to find the group in which I was the standard.
The best part about every journey is not the prize but the experience, especially with the people we meet. It’s the search for the like-minded others. It’s fascinating. It hails from an instinctive feeling. A feeling we are aware of, it’s a voice of our genes, a voice of our past, a voice to belong. So I have met a lot of people so far and fortunately most of them have been great. It takes such people to help you understand that the most defining moments in life are the ones you least expect, like this one:
If greatness is what you seek, prepare to be the target of a great enemy
So, a few weeks ago, I met a few people through a mutual friend. We decided to grab a cup of coffee and get to know each other, all expecting to have a nice little chat and then go on with our days. But that’s not what happened. We talked and talked and talked.
Somewhere in the conversation, I passionately went on about my dream of challenging the world to break the establishment of mediocrity, by proving that anyone can be a great artist and a great artist can come from anywhere.
On hearing that, one of my new friends aggressively asserted, “Why? What’s the point in being great?”
At that point, what started out as a nice chat quickly made a 180 degree turn. There was something about that “WHY?” that rocked my very core. I had a million answers on the point of pursuing a dream of that magnitude, and flared into an all-out, in-your-face, heated debate on the practicality of my dream. My friend thought the idea was unrealistic and naïve, and therefore ultimately a useless pursuit. For me that was the beauty of it – that’s what made it so thrilling.
After hours of intense debating, we both realised the debate was going nowhere, we agreed to disagree and walked away unsatisfied.
The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you will ever look
A few hours later, I found myself still bothered by the debate. Intellectually I knew I was right, but that didn’t change the fact that my energy was in the wrong place. I thought to myself, “Negative energy is contagious, did I catch it?”
After a while of contemplation, I felt strongly that I had arrived at the answer that was hard to swallow. I had found my greatest enemy hiding in a seed of doubt within me. I was my greatest enemy at the time. When I was asked “WHY,” I questioned my own ability to realize my dream. The challenge was, what do I do?
Embrace being the target
“We must be arched and buttressed from within, else our temple will crumble to dust.” -Marcus AureliusThis experience provided valuable life lessons. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason that helps us to get better. It all came down to remembering why I do what I do. It came down to remembering what I stand for. Just as steel is hardened in fire, if we can remain true to our values while others around us are full of disbelief and condemnation, we’ll grow faster and stronger. In life we will always disagree with each other but we can choose to find strength in our differences and use it to help us understand the world better, because at the end of the day, life is not a ME game, it’s a WE game. I am because we are. I cannot be all I can be unless you are all that you can be. One of the greatest inventors and philosophers of our time, Buckminster Fuller, said, “The purpose of our lives is to add value to the people of this generation and those that follow.”
And most importantly, we must be aware that in life our greatest enemy will often be ourselves, but by overcoming our fears and insecurities we will find pride of understanding how much power we have over our reality. Nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it.
Greatness is in the proximity of our bonds
As I sit down to write this, I can say I feel really good. I feel energized and ecstatic for the weeks ahead. I want to share my inspiration with the world and I accept the challenges that come with it. I know they can only make me better because am prepared to learn and my mind is ready to accept the mental toughness every situation demands. The dynamics of influence are simple, you either react to the world or the world reacts to you.
Today, the answer has never been clearer because I know why am doing it, ask me WHY again and the answer is simple; because I do it for you. I do it for me. I do if for us. I will represent the idea of possibilities because I believe there is a heart of a champion in all of us.
That’s it am outta here. Thank you for your time, it’s always a pleasure. I’ll talk to you again soon.
ANITHA.
MATHEW5;14