The Challenge of Challenging Your Challenges
Speak courage to yourself
A Chinese proverb says: The journey of a thousand kilometers begins with a step .This is true. A step makes the difference between an origin and a destination but I want to add that if the first step is not right, the journey may not even begin.
I once watched a documentary on CNN about Mexican immigrants who come into the United States by rail and the risks they take. They all begin the journey but not everyone gets to the desired destination. CNN highlighted the risks they faced just to get to a better life and earn enough money to take care of their families back home.
Many of them fall off the overcrowded train to the rails and are run over by the very train that is meant to take them to a better life. The worst part of this tragedy is not that they fell but rather that nobody tries to help them because they themselves run the risk of being mangled beneath the wheels of the train so you have a situation where a brother falls from the train and his sister is forced to watch him die and she weeps till she gets to their intended destination.
However, I learnt a great lesson from the survivors. They make up their minds and grit their teeth in determination to succeed as a tribute to those who lost their lives. More often than not, they succeed!
This is what this hub is all about.
Bravery is not the absence of fear; it is the desire and determination to face the fears and to ATTEMPT to overcome despite the fears. There are many inventors who never made an invention, many artists who never created a painting, many singers and song writers who did not put pen to paper and never got to sing - what happened? They failed at the first hurdle.
I was told by someone long ago that if I break every big ambition into achievable little tasks, I will accomplish it before I know what is happening. I have tried it several times in different situations and I discovered that it works and I want to share this with you under the hub topic I chose above.
No matter what one wants to achieve in life, there are (there MUST be) challenges. Now, the terrain may differ, the challenges may differ but there is one challenge that is constant in all situations and that is the challenge of TAKING THAT FIRST STEP! I wanted to be an author ever since I discovered that I had a flair for the arts. I could read well, I could write well, I could paint and draw, I could sing and write songs, I could speak well in public- I had a knack for putting words together in an interesting manner. I knew all these before I was 18! Yet it took me a while not because I could not find a platform to exercise my gifts but rather because I DID NOT TAKE THE TIME to look for a platform that would suit my exact needs. At the age of 33, I decided to look for a platform that will bring out the author in me. I tried E-zine, Blogger, Wordpress, Seekyt, until I found Triond and Hubpages. But all along that I sat back and hoped to see, I failed but when I took the step to search, I found.
This is the same with everything we want to achieve. there may be dreams (and great ones at that), desires, plans but if we do not overcome the challenge of taking that FIRST step to search for a platform to excel, our dreams may never see the light of day.
The focus of this hub is to tell everyone who thinks that there may not be an opportunity to do what they always wanted to do that there is hope. When I received a call to serve the Lord, I had a choice: to either wait until someone else recognised the call in my life and helped me or to start from somewhere so that others would see what I had and encourage my growth. So I started by registering to become a Lay Preacher in my Church. After a few sermons, they felt I should go further and that was when I let them know of my desire to serve the Lord as a Minister and I got the support I needed.
Let me break this into a summarised package:
1. Know what you want: Yes, the dreams and desires are there, but what do you want to achieve, to gain, to accomplish? Put them in perspective and see them becoming reality.
2. Arrange your visions and dreams into little achievable goals: For example, I want to be a singer. I'll first attach myself to a successful singing group or personality as a fan so as to learn all that I can. Then I will make use of every opportunity to sing (special songs in Church, talent hunt shows, etc.) and try my best to worm my way into the hearts of those who hear me. Then things will go on from there. Even the Bible say: Seest thou a man diligent in business? He shall stand before Kings, he shall not stand before mean men...
3. Go out, conquer your fear and achieve your aim!
I WISH YOU WELL IN ALL YOU ASPIRE TO DO AND BECOME. GOD BLESS YOU!
