EVERY JOURNEY STARTS WITH A STEP

EVERY JOURNEY STARTS WITH A STEP

Every parent takes delight in seeing their once crawling babies move close to something or someone to hold on to them, relying on the support to stand and then have some staggered work, which most times looks like the waddling of a duck (no insults, we've all been there).

The many times people are unaware they are standing very close to them and they move which results in these babies falling, or even times they begin to attempt standing on their own.

They see their older sibling standing, mummy standing everyone walking, standing upright and something tells them, oh seems I'm meant to really stand up on these two legs and waka (waka is Nigerian pidgin English for walk).

So one day after some grave episodes of falling and standing again, waddling and falling back to their knees, they take the courage to move closer to the white plastic chair or the baby walker pushing it with all determination, at first slowly, but once they saw that they were moving, the pace increased.

Oh the ecstasy, and joy, they are not afraid of any height or even fall, their eyes is filled with the fulfillment they are seeing, the only thing on their minds is I am unstoppable. Really they caused some disruptions, scattering the sits, causing some noise, tearing the carpets, scratching the tiled floors, but all those don't make sense to them.

At this point the parents might rush up to them to prevent them from falling and to prevent further disruptions to the house, this continues... One day the baby decides to stand on their own, takes the first step unaided fearfully, then the next, and the next, aims at a closest thing to hold on to but this joy is so much, this continues until the baby begins to walk and follow Daddy and mummy to buy stuffs at the mall, play with the siblings and do many more things.

Everyone has passed through this phase of life, where we have ideas to work on, projects to deliver. There are major timelines also in our lives like writing qualifying exams, asking the lady for a relationship, saying yes to that man for a forever journey in marriage, relocating, starting a new job, leaving your parents house etc...

The natural human response to any of the above scenarios is fear. Fear of success, fear of failure, fair of the known, fear of the unknown, doubts and uncertainties.

The human brain is wired for comfort and will not want anything that pushes it out of a comfort! This is why the popular saying, "the one who can stop you is you" is very valid. Your brain tells you every reason why you will fail if you start that project, why you can't continue, why you aren't the best fit for the job and should not apply.

Your mind (brain) tells you, you know you graduated with a strong 2:2 (if you know you know), imagine applying for that job with Tade who graduated with a first class and got a national award of recognition of excellence, imagine you that you are not handsome you want to ask Bernice's for a romantic relationship, imagine you who your parents hardly built a single bedroom bungalow where eight of you live in, you're saying you want to own a unicorn... and many more scenarios that just drive or whip you back into your shell like oh I really can't do that in just dreaming.

The turbulence that occurs in the our minds, the comfort our brain seeks and the audience we give to it is why we will never start a thing or see it through... THE MIND IS INDEED THE BATTLEFIELD.

Archbishop Benson Idahosa said this in one of his preaching "not taking a risk is risky" and I will also add that "a life lived in the comfort zone is too expensive for its occupant".

Do you have something you need to do that scares you, that's a pointer to the fact that it is something you should consider, break the fear, find out why it scares you, find out the reason for the fear...