How to manage hardtimes; Don't complain, Dont't whin, Don't make excuses, Do something
This article originally appeared on AfroHustler
People complain as a defense mechanism to validate why things aren’t going right in their life. People complain as a form of therapy. Truth is, a lot of people complain because they are hurt, confused, frustrated or scared. They can’t reason effectively with the reality of the circumstance or see an opportunity in adversity.
Whining and complaining is now a lifestyle for most of us. We complain just about anything and everything. in our music, our arts, our writing, our daily conversations (maybe in our food as spices) and right now I am complaining about people complaining all the time. We complain because of the frustration, pain, and confusion we are in thanks to “society”.
We are full of potential to be the best because we are blessed with the curse of hardships. Olusegun Obasanjo says “for strength in life, we need a bit of adversity” and we have enough adversity. The blessing of adversities nurtures complaints, which instill in us that creative idea or innovative strategic plan to strive. The sad thing is we just sit and cry while these revolutionary ideas fade away and remain just ideas and wishes because we are too chicken-hearted to take action. Why? Because we fear. We fear we don’t have what it takes to prosper. We don’t believe in ourselves just as we don’t believe in our government systems.
We rather play it safe and are complacent with mediocre and substandard lives. Yikes! We flee the risk of failure and settle for mediocracy rather than embrace risks and evade regrets. It transforms our lifestyle from whining to lamentation, “O had I Known”. Regrets would always hang over our heads like the proverbial Damocles’ sword and that’s a luxury we can’t afford even if we want to. Why? Because regret is suicidal.
Failure might offer some superficial pain, but regret offers much more as it cuts right through the epidermis to the bone shaft. Without acting on our adversity-instilled dreams and goals, we never live to achieve our full potential, both as a nation or as individuals. We are scared of submitting ourselves to the success system of which failure is part. If we want change, the time to act is now if not we are going to regret it.
We are responsible for what happens to us, success being inclusive. We are responsible for our success whether the world is ready for us or not. We would never know if we don’t go out there and take action. Pain is inevitable but success is optional.We only regret the chances we didn’t take!
Life would give us 1000 reasons why we would fail and just one reason why we would succeed, call it determination. Eric Thomas says “when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you would be successful”. Just as nothing matters more than a grasp of fresh air to an asthmatic patient in crisis, so is determination and hope to we who are predators of success. For our successes and not our failures define us.
When it is all said and done, would we have done more than said or said more than said? Our life is more of criticism which gives us more of excuses than results which matter more. We always give excuses to validate why things aren’t going right and why we do nothing. We focus more on looking as successful as a nation and individuals rather than be actually successful. We fail to see the blood, sweat, and tears that are sacrificed on the altar of prosperity. And when we fail in looking successful, we do what we do best, complain!
Within complaints are seeds of opportunities for us to build tomorrow. In every seed of adversity, there is an equal and more fertile seed of opportunity. The time would never be better to take action than now. Just do it, right where you are (even if it is nowhere) and with what you have (even if it is nothing).
What matters is for you to start. Don’t complain about what you are not willing to change. Yes, it is going to be difficult, not impossible. Determination is going to be our own reward for the harder we work, the easier it gets. If not us to take action, then who? And if not now, then when? The time is now and we have been chosen!
To all you whiners and critics, young and old I tell you to shut up and let’s make things happen. No one is too young or old to make dreams come true.
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