Fortune favours the Bold!

Written by
Written by

Deolu Akinyemi


Hmmm…I’m at a point in my life where this better be true 😉
I just resigned my job!!!!! Officially I have today become the president of the association of unemployed people of Nigeria.

Come off it, Adeolu, tell me, where are you going from here? What’s the new place like, what is the new offer? How much better is it. Sharp guy!

But seriously, I resigned, and I don’t have an appointement letter for anywhere else!

But why??…Let’s say it’s boldness!… Or Courage. We all need a doze of it in our lives!

Let’s examine the context of courage!
We live in a part of the world where we are trained to be respectful (and fearful), where we are inspired and encouraged to take our tow on life’s security queue. In our school days we are encouraged to be the best, to lead and be first! We are encouraged to wake up early and work hard. All this to get a good job, (by definition, a good paying job) and be safe and secure, all the days of our lives. While this is good, it rids us of pushing our way into the world and daring! Unfortunately we have been trained to be lilly livered, accept the status quo and not go against the norms.

I have pondered with keen interest on a strange anomally. Why is it that even though our educational system is reputed to be so poor, our less than average colleagues go out to the west and excel! I have also wondered that if this proved that there is quality within our people that transcends the systems, why does Africa not have “many” inventions to boast of?? My summary is that despite the fact that we have great talent around us, our systems have made us timid, earn as you go security seekers!

“Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you’re scared to death!” – Earl Wilson

Courage is not the absense of fear, it’s the suspension of fear! It’s like public speaking…even the best of the best get shivers up their spine from time to time, but the real expert is one who is so gifted he uses the shivers to advantage. One of the strongest paralizers of initiatives is fear. Fear binds. Those who have no fear of death, live life to the fullest. Whatever fears you have, face it and move despite of it! I’m not advocating brainless motion, no! I’m only saying you need to boldly confront your fears and prove yourself right or wrong. Like Winston Churchill said, courage is the act of moving from failure to failure without loosing enthusiasm. Courage is being able to answer the question what is the worst that can happen and facing those consequences with the conviction of securing the best!

“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” -Charles Dubois

I shoulda woulda coulda…This is the snapshot of those who refused to live life to it’s fullest. We only have one shot at life! One miserable possible event in life, is to be at the brink of death and to wonder, “what if?” It takes courage to confront our “what if’s?”, and answer them. What would happen if you go for the job you truely love? What would happen if you do the business you are passionate about? What would happen if you ask for that salary increase, ask that girl out, or stand up and speak your mind in that meeting? What would happen? Courage is being able to sacrifice what is for what could be! While we all find success stories interesting, have we ever wondered what would have happened if the key actors in that story of success didn’t act? Imagine the world without Bill Gates courage of dropping out of Havard to pursue his dream, imagine that Michael Jordan stopped playing basketball after missing so many shots (6000), imagine Thomas Edisson not trying the light bulb so many times. Imagine how different the world will be today if some men/women did not sacrifice what they had secured for what they could have? Their is no taking on any new thing without letting go of the old. What is in your hand?

“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world is indeed a scarecrow 😉 I remember growing up in the countryside (isn’t that what we’ll call it today?). Back in the days, we would go to the farm with our parents. My parents believed that salaries will never be enough and that we had the responsibility of supplementing what comes in, by venturing into other things. One of such things (amongst others), was farming! We would go to the farm to plant maize, okro, beans, yam, potatoes, cassava, guinea corn, watermelon, e.t.c. It used to be hard times then, but now such memories are fun. At those times as well, we would do all sort of things to protect the seeds we were planting, a range of things really. We would soak the seed in some form of poison, so that the fowls that came to do business when we had gone home would be terminally discouraged. We would also set traps, so that when the 4 legged farmers (rodents) also came to feast, they could have ready made food in a mama put style cage, where the sumptous meal will hang hooked in a cage that keeps the culprit alive until the real farm owner came. Chief amongst our devices was also the scarecrow. We would arrange sticks, and dress them up in such a way that the birds and rodents will think that it was a human being still in the farm and would not dare come near. Once in a while, some birds brave the odds, fly down and eat, with more frequent trying the soon discover that the scarecrow is the picture of a horse, all pose, no action. Most of the time, the things we are scared of are simply scarecrows. A good percentage of fears are not real. Why not dare to ask, speak, do… who knows, you might even find out that standing on the shoulders of the scarecrow you might see further.

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” -Anais Nin

It’s been said that fortune favours the bold! That we are are like air and will fill any container we give ourselves. Our lives are limited by the limitations we place on ourselves.
You don’t need a job, you need courage, you don’t need money, you need courage. It was once said by Winston churchill, that courage is the greatest of all virtues, because it takes courage to practice all others.

Dare to act!!! Fortune will smile on you!

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