MAKING LEMONADE!

  I don’t know if you’ve ever hit a brick wall when running or if you have ever fallen from a height? That feeling of helplessness, wishing you could stop the movement but there is no brake pedal, no pause button.  You are shocked when you hit the wall. You weren’t expecting it to be there or feel the wind beneath your foot before you fall. When they told you ‘life is not fair’ or ‘life is hard’ when you were little, you’ll never understand what that means until you hit that brick wall. You hit it hard, and then the sayings will come back to you. If life were as easy as the adverts on TV make it look, we’d all be happy, living in mansions. There’d be no poor people, no homeless people, no labourers, no market women, and no shop attendants. Everyone will have enough to spare, with the perfect life, family and no one would have to work or do what they don’t want to do just to have a little cash in their pockets to survive with.
  When life hits you hard, it doesn’t just hit you anywhere.
  It hits you below the belt, where it hurts the most. It is merciless. Then you’d know the real meaning of despair. When you have no dime to your name. When you have to borrow or depend on the goodwill of others to feed and get by. When you look in your wallets, search your pockets and bags and find just a hundred naira. You can’t move forward. You can’t leave your house because you can’t pay the fare. If you do go out, you walk for miles just to cover up the fare. Your head becomes a calculator. You calculate every penny. You can’t even afford to buy ten naira pure water. That is when you know life is hard. It can be nerve-racking and depressing. You get invited out by friends but you decline and say you are busy and have to work. But the truth and you can’t tell them is that you are as broke or even broker than a church mouse. They envy you and think your job and life is great but what do they know. Do they know you cry yourself to sleep each night? That the tears come out unbidden even during the day when you are watching a movie or in a commercial vehicle? Do they know how many times you have asked God what you did wrong and why He hates you so? Do they know you wish you hadn’t bought that pair of jeans and that top three months ago? Do they know you wish you hadn’t given that money to Nonso, Funmi and Clara when they asked you for help and you gave them the money without asking them to pay back later? Now you regret why you hadn’t asked for a refund and gave it freely. Everywhere you look all you see is no hope.  Everything looks bleak and without a resolution. You borrow more money to go look for a job but you never get picked. The promising ones call you back to say that they are sorry but someone else got the job. You fall on your knees and cry. There is no lifeboat. No light at the end of the tunnel you are in. Your mood permeates everything you do. You accept defeat and cower. All you know is life has beaten you.
   The people who used to be all over you have left you to wallow in your problems. They never reach out a hand to pull you up. They laugh at you behind your back and even in your presence. The little treats you used to enjoy, you can’t afford to buy anymore no matter how cheap you thought they were. You soak yourself in pity and wonder how you’d ever come out of it. You never knew anything like this existed before. The will to live slowly seeps out of you. You become a pessimist with your head wrapped in negative thoughts. You never sit down to ask yourself the truth. What is wrong with you? What are you doing wrong that you ought to change? Is this a sign that you are in the wrong career? Does it mean you should give it up and change to something you really love doing but neglect in the search for a job behind a desk.
   Thinking out your strategy will shed light on what you have to do but you prefer to wallow in pity.  Well, when they said ‘when life hits you with lemons make lemonade out of it’ is the truth. No successful man in history ever had it easy. That is why they are called successful because they succeeded. They fought failure and won. You are not a victim. Every challenge, troubled times, problems have been set to draw you closer to your destiny, to that man you should be. It is in tough situations that ideas come to us the most. It is when our minds are open to the universe, to see clearly. When you are comfortable you never strive for more. You grow complacent. Tough situations make you a success. The choice you make in a tough situation will determine if you will become a winner or a loser in life. It tells if you will become successful. That is why successful people in history love challenges. It pushes them to become better. Remember the famous saying by one of the biggest motivational speakers of today ‘tough times don’t last, tough people do.’? It is true. God puts challenges before us to move us to the path he wants for us through your freewill i.e. your choice. He will never give you a task that is bigger than you are. Never! He sets before you, your stepping stone. Victors don’t complain and wallow in pity. They toughen up, make tough decisions, and accept the result and whatever comes their way. Only losers give excuses and make themselves the victim.
    So, no matter how hard you hit that brick wall, get back on your feet and push it. Slowly, the wall will give way, it might take forever but it will fall. People give up when they are almost close to winning. Sit down and think without distractions. An idea will come to you and it might just be the answer. Don’t forget God, you think He is asleep but He isn’t. Don’t ever give up. Only losers give up because it is the easiest thing to do.Du courage!       

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