Pieces of String

Life is like a piece of string.

Different lengths, different colours, different textures, some thick, some thin. That’s what we are all like – DIFFERENT. Built to do different things, some lives are longer than others, some are like candles in the wind – blown out far too early, some people are born great, some people achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them, and others are supporters of the great, No one better than the other, everyone unique, and PERFECT for their own purpose.

Imagine wrapping a birthday gift with one of those thick industrial wire chords (a string of sorts). The wrapping paper will get damaged, the gift will no longer be concealed, and not to mention it will be an eye sore. Yet we do this every day. We try to be someone that we are not, achieve the things we were not born to achieve, reach heights that are not our destinies, follow paths that are not our own, beat someone at a race that isn’t ours (I could do a 100 meter sprint quite easily, but if I attempted a marathon I would collapse after the first half mile, only air lift go fit commot me from there). We do these things either in a bid to find happiness or in an attempt to impress someone else. And the result of that is even more severe unhappiness than you started off with.

One can NEVER (and I say in no uncertain terms) be good at what someone else is meant for, you can only ever be good at what YOU are meant to do. Mr. Me Too syndrome is a common Nigerian problem. Kabir just started a business selling boiled cows blood (I saw it on Welcome to Lagos), so you too must start selling boiled blood but instead you will go for ram blood, after all ram is more expensive your profit go pass his own. Your cousins best friend Lovette is making a killing from selling Armenian hair extensions, you too go start your own business, stick on Armenian eyebrows (everybody wants to look like the Kardashians shebi, why stop at their hair). Then you are shocked when you are badly in debt trying to copy somebody else’s’ well thought out idea.

We can’t all be investment bankers, we can’t all be top shot business school graduates, we can’t all be entrepreneurs, we can’t all be musicians, fashion designers, Computer nerds, high flying consultants, great graphic designers, Michelin starred chefs, or even actors... Find what your good at, and work yourself to death getting better at it, and making it succeed. That and only that will make you happy.

Xoxo.

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