DESTINY DEMYSTIFIED.

A lot of myths are identified with the word “destiny” which often suggests that Man’s destiny is already settled at birth. But, I dare to disagree with the myths. Won’t the world be a cruel place to live if some people are destined to live in abject poverty while some are destined to be great? The answer is affirmative. Without gainsay, nature will be so unkind if people’s fates are sealed at birth. The Creator being so fair, He deposits in everyone all that we need to make exploits and thrive at birth. He also gives everyone a fair play ground, the liberty to choose our paths and the opportunity to take part in the molding of our destinies. By the Creator’s making, everyone is destined to be great but unfortunately, our choices, actions and reactions alter the Creator’s plan for our lives. We unconsciously choose our paths and later blame it on destiny.

So what is destiny? Is it definite and unchangeable? Or can it be altered or cheated?

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “destiny is what happens to somebody or what will happen to them in the future, especially things that they cannot change or avoid.” Contrary to the general view that our destinies are enforced on us, from my own viewpoint, the definition suggests that we are responsible for our destinies since it’s an undeniable universal law that our choices and actions inevitably attracts proportionate results. For instance, if you fail to prepare adequately for an examination, the probability that you will fail the examination is high. In this scenario, it can be said that you are doomed to fail the examination. However, if you prepare adequately for the examination, ceteris paribus, success cannot elude you. In this case, it can also be rightly said that you are meant to pass the examination.

Life is like a race where everybody is given the opportunity to start at the starting point at the zero hour. How the race is finished now depends on the racer’s strength, skills, discipline, choices, actions, work ethics, character, habits, amongst other things. Destiny is the dividend you earn from your investments in your yesteryears, yesterdays, today, and tomorrows.

Destiny is not definite and unchangeable; it can be altered or cheated. I know of a civil servant turned musician in Nigeria who had an accident in the course of his duty. The accident left him paralyzed and instead of begging for alms like most people do, he decided to turn his destiny around with the disability. First, he organized a fundraising for his initial treatment abroad where he launched his album (he recorded his ordeal as a song). He was in the showbiz before the incident and so he enjoyed much publicity for his album. That aroused people’s emotions, and they bought his album massively. He did not only make enough money through the sale of his album, several organizations also donated money for his treatment. Though he cannot still walk with his two legs unassisted as I write this, but he’s now riding a customized jeep that he drives himself even with his disability. Today, people pay him huge some of money just for him to sing at ceremonies. He is now an international musician as he has organized several shows successfully abroad. His name is Yinka Ayefele and I doff my hat for him.

When Yinka Ayefele was plagued with paralysis, he could have accepted it as his destiny to beg for alms. But instead he decided to use the disability to launch himself to limelight and affluence. He has turned his woe into success. He has not only emancipated himself from mediocrity, he has also succeeded in liberating his family from poverty. What will you call his destiny? To get paralysed only to be launched? Whichever way you think of it, I bet you’re wrong. Yinka Ayefele took charge of his destiny! He altered the plans of the adversary over his life. He beat circumstances to it. He carved out his destiny on the anvil of courage. He demystified destiny.

I don’t know your situation but if Yinka Ayefele can do it, so can you! You are not stuck with a bad destiny. You might not be able to control certain occurrences in your life, but you sure can control the way you react to them. You can turn around any situation you find yourself. You can work out your destiny. You can challenge the status quo. You can picture a future and feature in it.

Your fate is not sealed, there’s still remedy. Spend every passing minute judiciously. Before embarking on any action, think right, choose right, plan right, prepare right and act right so that you can attain a glorious destiny.

I can only admonish, it’s up to you to work out your destiny in life’s reality show. Walk the talk. Recreate your world. Finish strong!

THERE’S HOPE!

Admittedly, life is not without challenges and these challenges could be so overwhelming at times that one might doubt the possibility of ever finding solutions. But even so, I have come to realize that “no situation is as terrible as it appears and that every challenge has a solution”. Call it a propaganda, but see what I mean…

After dusk comes dawn; it’s irrefutable. No matter how difficult a challenge might be, it can’t last forever; it must surrender to time or solution. Interestingly, when challenges are surmounted, then comes victory, newness, liberty, and promotion. Even when a challenge overwhelms you, you can decide to still take advantage of the defeat. No situation is hopeless.

The word “solution” in itself was coined to indirectly mean “hope” because the dictionary meaning of solution is “dealing with a difficult situation”. The fact that a difficult situation can be dealt with means there’s hope! Everything is possible to those that believe in possibilities. So, I charge you not to loose hope in any situation under any circumstance. What is the challenge?

Are you in debt? Suicide is not your best option. If you hang in there, with hard work and perseverance, you will not only repay your debt, you will also make more money than you ever imagined (it has happened before).

Is it unwanted pregnancy? Don’t abort, that child might turn out to be your only hope later in life (it has happened before).

Have you failed the same examination over and over again? Don’t give up, there’s hope! Do it again!

Even if you’re HIV/AIDS positive, there’s still hope. Apart from the fact that cure is on its way, having a premonition of death even gives you the opportunity to prepare for life after death. Besides, anti-retroviral drugs can still buy you some extra years and it’s not impossible that a miracle will happen whereby the virus will just disappear of its own accord if you have faith (it has happened before).

Whatever the situation may be, your breakthrough is certain if you endure. In actual fact, life will be meaningless (a bad joke) without the hope of a better tomorrow. And life can’t possibly be a huge joke because it’s real; all you have to do to give meaning to your life is to fully understand life’s laws and its applications so that you can use them to your advantage. Life is not without hope. Even ordinarily, every challenge comes with its solution, just that it’ll take thinkers to decipher the solution. No matter the situation, you can rise! Your latter end can be better. The outcome of that challenging situation can even make you a better person. I know so because I have seen a victim becoming a victor before. I have also seen a loser becoming a winner before. I have also seen a disadvantage turning into an advantage before.

Since there’s hope for a tree that was cut down to sprout again because it’s still rooted in the soil, because you are still alive, there’s hope for you in this life, and even beyond the grave. So whoever you are, whatever you’re going through, I implore you not to loose hope. Be resolute. Be innovative. Be receptive. Be optimistic. Think right. Plan right. Act right.

Hope it. See it. Work it. Live it.

LIVE EVERY MINUTE AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST.

I lost a colleague to death’s cold hands three days ago and it dawned on me that anyone can die at anytime. This was a guy who walked into the hospital with his two legs. Gradually, the sickness deteriorated and he later fell into coma. Now, he’s six feet below the surface of the earth. Such is life…so uncertain.

Perhaps the saddest truth in the whole wide world is that everybody will die one day. I have come to realize that life is a stage where you are only permitted to act your part. When your part is over, you will leave the stage for others to play their parts. Since we are not going to be on life’s stage forever, it is important that we live every minute as if it were the last so that we can achieve something meaningful before we eventually leave the stage.

If your heart stops beating right now, where do you think you will spend your eternity? Will people feel sad about your exit or will they rejoice? What will you be remembered for? Will it be said that a soul benefited from your life or will it be said that you affected the world adversely? Will it be said that you contributed your quota to the development of our world or will it be said that you ended up leaving the world worse than you met it? Will your footprints be left on the sand of time or will your memory fade in no time? It calls for sober reflection.

If you do a thorough analysis, you will realize that you can do better than you’re doing. Beloved, it’s time to make amends. Go back to your drawing board and re-strategize. Map out goals and the plans to realize them. By all means, endeavor to fulfill your purpose before you join your ancestors.

You came to this world alone and you’ll leave alone, so start taking life personal. Start taking life serious. Always see the dawning of a new day as another opportunity to make a difference. Don’t postpone the good you can do now for the morrow. Finish that project. Conclude that assignment. Help that soul. Today’s all you’ve got to make a difference, tomorrow may be too late.

TURN STUMBLING BLOCKS INTO STEPPING STONES.

If life is without stumbling blocks, everyone will definitely attain greatness. If everyone becomes great, the world will loose its meaning because there will be no one to serve. Nature being so kind, the Universe often punctuates our paths with stumbling blocks so that the world’s population can be segregated into different strata; those that surmount the stumbling blocks will succeed in attaining their goals, while those that give in to them will not only fail in attaining their goals, they will also be compelled to serve the successful to survive. Amazing, isn’t it?

I know of a fast growing telecommunication firm in Africa that lost out of the bid for GSM license some years ago. Despite the huge some of money the firm lost to the bid, the management of the firm was undeterred. The firm repackaged itself and later bided for a more comprehensive telecommunication license and interestingly the firm won the bid. Today, the firm is a success story having literally turned the stumbling block into a stepping stone. The firm has not only spread its tentacles across many countries in Africa, it has also succeeded in competing with other telecommunication firms that had been in existence decades before the firm was even incorporated. You will agree with me that if the management of the firm had given up with the pursuit of the telecommunication license when faced with the stumbling block, the feat wouldn’t have been realized. Therefore, I postulate that “To give in to a stumbling block is to trade impending success for defeat.” Call it a hypothesis, but see what I mean…

Our Universe is a testing ground; a place where everyone is tested before qualifying. Since you cannot retain nor value what you obtain cheaply, life demands that you qualify for every objective before it is relinquished to you. So, to qualify for success in life, you must pass the tests that life brings your way; you must scale the hurdles. Unfortunately, majority give up when stumbling blocks cross their paths which explains why only a fraction of the world’s population succeeds. Thus, it is pertinent for everyone desirous of success to always turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

So what is a stumbling block? How can it be converted into a stepping stone?

A stumbling block can be said to be a test of your desire and faith to attain an objective. It disguises in form of a challenge to discourage one from pursuing the objective. Interestingly, success is usually at the other side of a stumbling block.

Despite its cunning, you can beat the masquerade called stumbling block to it by using it as a stepping stone. When faced with a stumbling block, first analyze it properly to discover the loophole(s); there must be other ways and better ways the hurdle can be scaled. Then, re-strategize and reposition yourself to scale the hurdle. If you can’t go over the stumbling block, go around it. Change plan or technique if you have to. By all means, ensure that it doesn’t hinder you from achieving the set objective.

Since your ability to surmount stumbling blocks will determine the stratum into which the Universe will segregate you, it is advisable that you always overcome challenges instead of giving in to them. Never, never, never take “NO” for an answer. Be innovative. Be resolute. Be forceful. Be indomitable. Be triumphant.