Life is a Serious Business
Agreed! Excitements and fun times are involved and necessary. But for the most part, we aren’t in this part of the planet for jokes. We should therefore live life as though we mean business and make our living worthwhile before departure.
Our life orientations might be different but we are all here for reasons. We do not just find ourselves here accidentally, we are given assignments to complete. It is a must-complete mission. Our journies are different. Therefore, we would not work on the same paths. We all have to focus more on our respective lanes. In reaching the finish line in life, we seek several things to keep us motivated and to stay on track. We go into relationships, seek therapies, have Mentored, listen to motivational tapes above many others.
Permit me to share the below analyzed seven rules of life with you. In addition to involving God in everything we do, if these rules are well followed in our life endeavors (moving forward), I believe our life assignments will be successful and our missions will be accomplished.
Stay Calm:
While journeying in life, we will encounter many situations that would require patience, perseverance, and determination to overcome. Many would take time to solve and few would take easiness to pave through. A secret of success in life is knowing that the right time is always the best time. That no matter what life throws at you, you will survive and overcome. Let’s think of the sun rising at night instead of the daytime. Of course, it would bring brightness, however, the brightness wouldn’t be as valued as it would be during the day. The right time is the best time. Again, let’s think of a passenger boarding a plane and risks keeping raw eggs in his hand luggage. Know, there is a 90% chance of those eggs not making it when the plane lands. Taking the proper channel and doing things right is an indispensable step in achieving whatever it is we desire.
Let It Go:
A spent yesterday cannot come back. Today is another opportunity. No matter how big the imperfections of our past are, we should let them be in the past. A car moving forward and looking at the rear mirror at the same time would eventually clash itself and not move forward as necessary. No matter what the challenges might be, no matter how painful the scar might look like, no matter how unfair the situation is, let it go. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King Jr. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the success. the higher the endurance, the higher the training gained. God wouldn’t have made us experience darkness in our lives if he knew we wouldn’t be able to pass through them. We want to grow through those challenging and controversial moments and not just go through them. Also, as said in this article, every challenge has opportunities within them. They do not just happen coincidentally, challenges happen for reasons. So, if you want to grow in life, do not get stuck in the past, live forward and eventually, you would achieve your true purpose in life.
Give It Time:
From my experience in life, I have learned that the right time is always the best time. Most times, we want things to work out at our desired time and to our plans. However, God has the perfect timing and plan. We might have wished our childhood was more prestigious than it was, that our marriage should have been fruitful than it is, the addiction is taking too long to pass by, and many other controversies. The truth is all those wishes will come to pass if we give it time. We do not want to rush internal healings as it is a gradual process. A tree would not bear its fruits in a single day. During my high (secondary) school days, I had a scar that many students will mock me with and made me feel ashamed and left out. That happened for a while until I took a stand not to make the scar a big deal. Today, when those memories arise, I thank God the incident happened because if not for the scar, I would have done many things I will not be proud of today. Instead of them making a mockery of it, I said to myself — the scar is only a condition, it would never be my limitation. Same as every one of us, we might have looked back into some scars (physically or emotionally) in our lives and wished it healed overnight. I am confident to tell you, that if you give it all time, you would look back one day and thank God for it not happening the exact time you wanted it. God has the perfect plan and timing. The right time is the perfect and best time.
Do Not Compare:
We all have our race to run in life. Our miles are different and the same is our duration of completion. What others think of you while running your race is none of your business. You understand why you are doing what you’re doing and know your destination. Les Brown said it best, someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality. People are expected to say whatever they feel like, it is none of your concern. Do not compare your life to theirs nor should you change who you are to fit in with them, discriminately.
Supplementally, when we see others doing well in their lives financially, in their marriages, academically, or physically. Those are not overnight successes. They worked for them. Anyone that hasn’t gone through what they have gone through should not envy them negatively or not feel happy for them. Your time is coming. It is okay to have role models. however, we can never live the exact way as them. Their teachings and training might be useful in our journeys, but they cannot make us who we are not. We should not be too carried away comparing our lives to others that we forget many great things we can do ourselves.
Be Happy:
As said in the preface, fun times and excitement are required as we journey through life. Celebrate yourself, smile, and make people around you smile too. Be proud of who you are and always have reasons to thank God for bringing you this far in your life. We all have stories to tell.
Every new day comes with new opportunities. We shouldn’t be sad or feel reluctant because things don’t work out the way they should. it might be painful but we shouldn’t let those situations determine our happiness. When we train ourselves to uphold happiness no matter what life threw at us, we will be revived with both internal and external strengths. Life was never said to be all glossy; creamy and icy. Challenges are expected to come. However, no matter how bad it might be, no matter what your past was, life goes on.
No matter what life throws at you, you want to keep your head up and stay happy regardless. If you can do this, you will instill in yourself the spirit of full determination of not giving up because your assignment in life is not yet complete. Remember, life is not a competition — it is a struggle of becoming a better self.
Ignore Them:
Your self-esteem should never be determined by others. Whether it makes them happy or not, that does not matter to you. All that matters is for it to make sense to you and make you happy. I love this speech by fearless soul. Personally, I do not care what you think or say of me, even if it is positive. Good luck to you. All that matters to me is self-fulfillment and satisfaction. We want to realize we are living for ourselves and not other people. So, we want to ignore people that do not support what we are doing or simply show enmity for no reason. We are accountable for what we do and so they are.
Additionally, I have learned that if people are not talking behind your back (positively or negatively), it means you are not doing something meaningful in life yet. If you are, they will surely talk. A producer does not respond to every review on their marketing stats. They only make them do consecutive evaluations on their products. They do not stop producing. What we pick from other people’s opinions is up to us. They either serve as motivation to keep working harder or deformation of holding back.
It Is On You:
Only you are in charge of your happiness. Whatever we do in life, we do it for ourselves. Correlation is never causation. You get whatever you put forward. You reap whatever you sow. We should not try to satisfy others to the detriment of our own happiness. It is good to be good but at the same time, we cannot give what we do not have. We cannot pour from an empty cup. We want to be good to others as well as our own selves.
Taking responsibility for our lives does not signify we being carefree of people around us, including our family. Genuine love and empathy are needed in creating an equitable society. However, we are in charge and responsible for whatever happens to us. Take care of your physical health, be aware of your mental health, eat good foods, do things that make you happy, be there for others, live every day as it comes, stay focused, and you will find out that indeed, life is good.
Thank you for taking out the time to read this piece. If you find this impactful, kindly share it with families and friends. Don’t forget to give it a clap as well — it is simply an encouragement. Feel free to leave any comment and all inquiries can be sent to talk2kaag@gmail.com. Join me on Instagram. Join me on Twitter. Join me on Facebook.
