A Big Step: The Path to New Heights

Introduction:

Welcome my Friend!

How are you really?

I hope you're not having one of those days when we just say "I'm fine" because we're even too drained to pour our hearts out.

Yet, even such days come to an end so that we can look back from experience, remaining grateful for lessons we learned from them, because it's those lessons that usher us into better days.

As we get into our discussion on today's edition of our Friday weekly newsletter we'd be sharing some lessons from the journey of some folks trapped in the countryside when their car broke down in a 'road trip gone bad'.

In this story, a group of about twenty (20) people have found themselves in a situation where they're faced with the responsibility of getting to their destination after encountering disappointment.

A circumstance that wouldn't normally be a problem if the county wasn't such a deserted place where it takes an element of luck to have another vehicle passing by.

What then is the fate of these passengers who seem to have run out of luck themselves?

For them, there were two options: the first being, to trek to the next town where there are more buses headed to their destination. The other, to wait around with fingers crossed that it's a good day where another vehicle comes along and rescues them from their ordeal.

For a small part of this group, taking the difficult twenty-four hour walk to increase their chances of getting help seemed to be the logical thing to do, while for the rest, it sounds so painstaking that they'd rather just hold on to the hope of getting lucky.

Discussion:

From my own end, I'm yet to see anyone who doesn't desire to be "successful"; which of course, is the term used to describe a life of ease, comfort and some luxury to make the comfort even more comfortable.

To close that deal at work that immediately sets off alarm bells in our superiors offices that there's a new guy in town that's arrived to take over.

Yet, even more satisfying is the feat of scoring the winning goal for your country.

From one sphere of life to another, the human need to feed our ego makes us want to go all out for the spectacular. An order that has us look at anything that leads to the path of gradual progress with disdain because to us they're boring; and resultantly, unappealing.

When we do this, we unknowingly, act like the second group of travelers, refusing to make the tasking walk that slowly brings us closer to our destination. Rather counting on a lucky break that has no guarantees and for good reasons.

■ Riding Our Luck

Six (6) hours after the first group had set out on their journey, a part of the remaining group got bored and tired of waiting for their lucky bus to arrive, so they left to have some fun.

This is what happens when we get distracted by pleasures while waiting for our breakthrough.

Many times, we get lost in the harmful activities of drugs, pornograghy and all forms of unhealthy behaviour that we've adapted as coping mechanisms for our frustrations at not being in our destination yet.

Here, our lack of discipline while waiting is in fact, the reason we miss out, because we're no longer stationed at the right spot where the lucky bus will arrive.

Also, not everyone of them in the remaining group that stayed at the right spot got picked because the bus arrived with other people in it resulting in the need to prioritize. Of them all, only the man on a wheelchair and a pregnant lady were picked up.

In this we understand that when those with special needs amongst us frequently get lucky breaks in their career and finances it's because it's a way nature evens up their competitive limitations in meeting up with some of the physical demands of life.

Here, the reason we are unlucky to get an instant break is because we have already been fully equipped in our gitfts, talents and specialisations to take the long walk.

Faced with this latest disappointment, one would normally expect that they give up but not these guys.

Truly, this refusal to quit dreaming did eventually pay off when another bus arrived after another fourteen (14) long hours of waiting; unfortunately, not without some bad news.

The car looked very much like the one that broke down so all but one (1) of them was skeptical about it so only him boarded while the rest continued to wait for a better luck.

These are the times we miss out on our lucky break due to the fear of our past experiences. What we've failed to recognise is that the fact that the first car broke down doesn't mean the other will and taking the chance is how to find out.

■ The Challenges of Choosing to Walk

Those who chose to walk didn't do so because it was easy but because it was the only route to a guaranteed path to their destination albeit slowly.

Here with every sweat, sore feet and harsh weather only the thought of getting to their destination mattered to them as they pushed through those hours.

However, something happened that was more challenging to bear than all that physical pain; and that's the pain of seeing the man and pregnant lady wave at them as they drove by.

This is the point the majority of them gave up as they couldn't make sense of why it's worth the pain and suffering of walking when they could as well wait for their luck.

This is what we do when we look at other people's journey without appreciating our own progress. Here, in their comparison, they didn't realize that those two (2) represent just ten percent (10%) of the entire number that started the journey.

Some of us painfully give up just before the finish line throwing away all that progress made and sufferings borne simply because we let unhealthy competition blind us from the big picture of our own destination and how close we are to it than when we first began.

This is the biggest challenge of choosing to walk.

■ Benefits of Taking the Walk

When those that gave up did, the remaining three (3) folks that were determined to see it through walked only for another quarter of an hour when they began seeing different vehicles of choice heading to their destination.

They had arrived at the point where they've worked their luck.

When we build our capacity through tenacious self development, we give ourselves options. We arrive at a point where we no longer have to jump on any available "lucky car" but where we can comfortably choose from our list the one that best suits us.

As we ride in them to our destination, we begin to appreciate how the sufferings on our way had revealed to us different parts of us and our hidden strengths that we needed those tests to reach.

■ Guides to help us over the Line

To be able to find the courage to take a different route when all around us are doing something else requires a level of self confidence and trust that can only come from walking the path of our purpose.

Without having a vision that we so believe in, people will talk us out of our path with their opinions because we're unable to discern if they're good or bad for us regardless of the intentions behind them.

This discernment can only come through prayer. As we build on our intimate relationship with the one that has created us and called us on this journey, he reveals to us the things that align with his will for us.

It's also from this communication that we're able to stay patient and persevere through challenges because we know him enough to wholeheartedly trust in his promise to lead us to our destination.

Summary:

Now we've seen the path to new heights, it's important to ask ourselves if we're right on it or if we're just counting on a mere chance to get to our destination.

The only sustainable big step is the one that comprises of many small steps overtime.

Master Apprentice.

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