Segun was invited for a speaking engagement. That was going to be his second speaking invitation for that year. However, he couldn’t make it to the event due to a reason beyond his control.
When he got the invitation, it came as a surprise because he wasn’t even expecting a church organization to invite him to come speak to their members.
As he was informed about the date of the event, he checked his calendar to see if he didn’t have any engagement on the said date. Fortunately, he didn’t. So he gladly honored the invitation. Nothing thrills him more than to bless people with his God-given talent.
Having honored the invitation, ample details of the event were sent to him and he was given a topic to speak on. Flyers were made and publicity was done on their platform. They called him on phone occasionally to ascertain his presence and he assured them he was definitely going to be there. Unknown to him that he wouldn’t make it.
As the event drew nearer, he was ecstatic as he prepared himself for it. He was ready to seize the opportunity to bless people’s lives. But alas, he didn’t make it there for some unavoidable reasons. It was a painful experience for him as he missed the program. But he learnt a very important lesson about life which is the basis of this article.
In life, shit happens. Life is just like that and we must be ready to live it like that. Sometimes, things don’t go as we plan. Irrespective of how well you plan; sometimes, things don’t just fall in place.
For instance, you can decide to be the best student throughout your period in school hoping that when you are done, a fantastic job would be awaiting you, but don’t be surprise when life happens.
You might have done all you need to do in some situations and just expect things to fall into place just like Segun โ but when life happens, you just have to live with it.
Life can happen to anyone, irrespective of his position or status. Life happened to David and he ran for his life when his son tried to usurp his throne. If life could happen to David, a king, life can happen to anyone.
Over the years, I have come to learn that things will not always go as I have planned. However, this is not the focal point I want to convey. The question now is, what happens when life throws shit at you? What do you do? This is exactly the point I am driving at.
What do you do when you are faced with failure? What do you do when someone looks at you in the eye and tells you to give up on your passion because such person presumes you cannot go far in it? What do you do when things don’t go the way you have planned, despite all the perfect work you’ve done? Do you give up? Do you forge ahead? Let me tell you what I have always done.
I have learnt to move ahead in life irrespective of what happens. You know, humans don’t always have control over their circumstance, but they have control over how they choose to react to it. Even though I may not always have power over what surrounds me, I can choose how I react to the things around me.
I have learnt to use whatever challenges I encounter in my journey as a catalyst to move forward. In fact, I have programmed my mind to always have a different look at difficulty โ as a step to forwardness. This has been my secret and it’s been working for me.
No one ever said this journey was going to be easy in the first place, but once you are determined to win, you will definitely be a winner.
Now, this is not just a motivational post. I am not writing this to merely stimulate you. I want you to read this article and make a solemn decision to apply this it to your life. Truth is, it is very practicable. All you need do is just practice it!
As Nigerians, no doubt, we are faced with diverse challenges. Even if you’re not a Nigerian, you would probably agree with me that you have some challenges which are constantly agitating your heart.
In the midst of those challenges, what do you? What do you do when you don’t even see a brim of hope in your journey? Learn not to give up!
Be the best version of yourself always!
I’m Emmanuel Olatunji, the exceptional being.
