Baskadia

“Never underestimate the repellant power of a negative mental attitude. It can prevent life’s lucky breaks from benefiting you.” Napoleon Hills

I have resolved long ago to stop blaming men for every disappointment they caused me, for men who disappoints you today did not do it out of wickedness even though what they have refused to do for you is within their reach and ability, it is because the law of nature haven’t given them such responsibility for your expected breakthrough. Disappointments like every other forms of adversities, are an integral springboards in man’s pursuit for success. It is that onion that at first brings tears out of your eyes but in the end brings clarity as you drive towards your expected goal.

Adversity is not destructive; it is rather constructive, for it is an important ingredient required in the recipe for successful existence in life. Although to some it may be viewed as destructive depending on their mental attitudes towards life most bothering issues, and that is why many unknowingly are consumed in their adversities, ignorantly turning tools meant for their lifting up in life to tools for their casting down. And when the success screams of diverse lifting ups are been heard in the camp of the perseveres, the failure songs of continual casting downs are been sang in the camp of the “Chicken Hearted.” What screams or songs do you want people to hear in your camp? It all depends on your attitude towards the problems or difficulties you are going through right now.

What exactly is adversity? The English dictionary defines adversity as hardship and suffering. It could also mean an extremely unfavorable experience or event. Do not be scared by the underlined word in italic, it’s just an addendum the devil added to make you give up when life difficulties stretches you beyond what it seems like your elastic limits. The moment life adversities stretch you beyond your elastic limits, I will say congratulations because at such point your breakthrough is just by the next turn you take. Moreover, reaching your elastic limit with no sign of giving up, adversity itself gets tired of stretching you any further, for your elasticity like an over-stretched “Rubber Band” is gone, so retreating at such point becomes an aberration on your part. Or have you seen a rubber band pulled beyond its elastic limit returns to its original state? The big question here is how do you react when life challenge stretches beyond your elastic limits?

Don’t forget at this point our definition of adversity, it is very important for your understanding of the subject matter; again, it is an extremely unfavorable and unpleasant experience or event, therefore you don’t expect the journey to reaching the top to be a palatable one. It is expected that you would be totally spent and exhausted. To those with continual oppressive and repressive negative mental attitude, giving up and retreating would be their best option. But to the winners, to the resolute, the calmness that characterized the point beyond the limits tells them they have reached the threshold, and they will soon see the light. Such people would, like the popular duo gospel singers “Mary-Mary” sang in one of their popular piece, say “I can’t just give up now, I have come too far from where I started from, nobody who thread this part before me ever told me that the road would be easy………I have come too far to turn back!”

Moments of adversities in life are absolutely your darkest periods. It is a dark tunnel, wilderness experience you or everyman questing for supremacy in their vocations must pass through. It is a refining process to improve and equip you with all the skills required to manage the light (success) at the end of every adversity you are presently going through. Every stage of your adversity is a passing phase. Every step you take in perseverance like time and season is past and forgotten and can never be repeated. It is natural to get weary on the journey, but don’t give up, be focused, for every step taken is an inch closer to your destiny.

Did I just hear somebody says, “Mine case is just more than an adversity, hence nothing can come out of me”? Are you sick? Are you a disable? Are you bankrupt? Are you an illiterate? Whatever adversity you suffer from, you were made to pass through that stage for one singular reason, and that is, to strive, work, and persevere to discover that seed with so much greater benefits that lie dormant, untapped, and unawake in your present inability. A lot have dwell so much in their adversities that they forgot the seed of greatness in them. The Holy book tells me that, “there is hope for a tree that was cut off, as long there is a touch of water it will surely sprout again”. If there is hope for a falling tree, then you have a greater hope than that of a mere tree, only if you persevere a little more, you may just be closer to your light than you could ever imagined. The seed of greatness buried in your adversity should always be your target at all time and not to dwell forever in the adversity itself.

You want to hear a true story of adversity turned greatness? Flip to the next chapter, and you will be reading of the story of Clem Labine, one of the greatest base ball players of his time, whose adversity became his greatest tool to greatness. Before I end this, always remember…..

“You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by trying, success is achieved and maintained by those who keep trying-don’t give up”. Napoleon Hills