After the Sun…

After the sun...

I’ve been so obsessed with nature lately that I learnt something today that really encouraged me. So, I felt I shouldn’t keep it to myself instead, let it out for people to see the lessons in the simplest things of life. After all, the beauty of a clay is in it’s molding.

I live in one of the suburbs in Abuja, the Northern part of Nigeria. Abuja during the dry season is relatively hot! It’s hotness is more critical in the suburbs than in town which literally, can boil water when kept directly under the sun (Lol). The reason I’m emphatic about where I live is that it would help anyone who is not from that area to understand how harsh the weather is.

Now, this harsh condition becomes hotter as the day passes so much that the Air-conditioners take the place of heaters. Infact, during the dry season, it feels like it’s the sign of the coming of Jesus (Lol)…it’s just incredibly hot!.

Today, being like the rest of the days was stupendously hot! At sun set, a heavy storm came unexpectedly and then, there was Rain! It Rained!! You know about the quote that says ‘after the rain comes the sun’? Well that’s quite cliché for me. Anything can be something when you put a kind of energy to it. By kind of energy, it could be negative or positive either way, it’s effective.

For instance, the heat that comes from the sun and the severe sweat that comes after it could simply symbolize pain, terror, struggle (Negative energy) and yet can still symbolize light, labour, zeal (Positive energy). So you see?? It depends on what way you direct your energy.Well, for me, I’d love to address my positive energy to the rain because after what I’ve been through with the sun, my gratitude came when it rained.

Simply put, the sun taught me that no matter the struggle or pain(I.e. heat and sweat), it’s just a matter of time and perseverance before the rain comes and sometimes it happens when we least expect. So, never worry about anything. Instead use that energy towards being optimistic about everything. And just know that anything is possible as long as you put in the right mind towards that field.

Least I forget, naturally, it’s been stipulated that raining season starts June/July in Abuja, Nigeria but hey, it’s May! It might not rain till June/July but it rained. Meaning, when God chooses to bless you, he breaks protocols on your behalf. Who says you can’t become what you want to be because of financial instability? The God who let it happen surely has an escape route for you. Your identity is not tied to your challenges. It’s tied to the way you challenge your challenges. Just because you’re experiencing the sun doesn’t mean the rain would never come!! Hope is not the rain, hope is waiting for the rain in the sun!!! It’s always darkest before dawn!

There’s always a story tied to every person. Every story is a life jacket to keep you sailing!! The ability to survive through life storms is what will keep you standing strong.

With all being said, it’s important to note that After the sun… comes the rain!!!

The Ultimate Passion Killer

I had dreams to die for. I had a family to take care of. Each day I woke up to see the dawn, was a day to rely on my dreams. My heart was full of desires. My head carried thoughts that could bloom. I knew what it took to be better if not…Perfect! I knew just how to make my legacy but, I was trapped or should I say I trapped myself? Whatever though! Every plan and dreams I ever had came flushing down as each year passed. My world had a bitter sweet moment. It was crumbling! I wish I listened…listened to that numb but wise little voice The very dreams that where to die for became my living corpse. Now I’m dead. A man without dreams I am. Truly I can only agree that there of course lives the greatest passion killer…and well, the day I welcomed him to my house was where it all started.

Cut! Reality check!

Everyone would agree with me that dreams are cheap to get. The beggar on the street has dreams. A 6year old child exposed to the educational system has dreams. The hawker on the road has dreams. But there’s something that makes it super expensive to achieve. It is the ability to work your dreams out. Likewise passion. The beauty about dreaming is that you don’t pay for it. But the sad truth is, you pay to achieve it. Now, by paying necessarily doesn’t mean money, it could be your effort: energy, time etc.

Basically, there are many reasons why a person’s passion or dreams can’t be met. The father of them all is that ultimate passion killer we would be looking at. Well, you might be curious as to what this is but I believe that it won’t be long before you figured it out. Would love to use myself as an instance, I’ve been away for a while and some of my caring viewers asked why. And guess what I said, “Nothing”. It was shocking for them because they do know how passionate I am about writing but it was more than just being passionate…..it had to take something else…I like to tag them as the 3 D’s; Direction, Decision and Discipline (that’s another day’s topic). And I believe a whole lot of people can relate to this in any sphere whatsoever.

Passion gives us a direction as to what to happily depend on but discipline makes it more outlined. When there’s no discipline, it fails. A failed passion is due to the refusal to take some radical and inconvenient steps. There’s an adage that says; “Nothing good ever comes easy” I couldn’t agree any less.

People think to have a passion or a dream is all that it takes. Well, it’s not. It’s one thing to have a passion and another to develop it consistently. The problem with just having a passion is that we get to treat the next day like it was a Monday. “I would draw my plans tomorrow”. “I would work on my three months old decision tomorrow”. “I would start exercising tomorrow”. “I’d post an article tomorrow”. To these people, tomorrow never ends.

Now, I’m not saying we do these stuffs because it’s the way we are. Obviously, nobody was born with a ‘tomorrow-tag’ on their foreheads. Meaning, no person was born lazy or hardworking…we become what we decide. Where you are now is the result of the decisions you’ve made in the past. Good or bad….either ways we get to decide on what print we want to leave behind.

Having said much, I believe by now we all know what this ultimate passion killer is, PROCRASTINATION!!! If you had that in mind all time, you got it. If you didn’t, you still got it!! If not, you won’t be reading the last bits of it to find out. So, I believe that you would try to work on yourselves as I’m still a work in progress. Keep focus on the things you want to achieve and spend less time thinking of the one’s you couldn’t. That’s what life is all about, you win some and………thanks for completing that!

Shalom Oforji