THE WEIGHTED HERO

THE WEIGHTED HERO

Overrated, flop, inconsistent, failure, never good enough etc....these were adjectives and nomenclatures best used to describe my personality. Having being so blessed with abundant talent and with constant improvement and continuous strive towards attaining effectual optimum performance skill level; I was still regarded as an underachiever and a celebrated joke by many. In such circumstance two things are involved; either to accept the world’s description of me or to re-define my personality. Who really has got the right to define me? Circumstance, people or perhaps myself?

Can you please tell me what the determining factor to how far one goes in life are? How well does pressures and influence affects performance level in the journey of Life? This and many more were the questions that pop on mind as I watched the final of the 2012 US Open between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Forgive me if I once again use the events happening in the sport world to drive out a powerful point but give me some minutes of your time, let’s together unravel certain life truths.

Remember the story of David and Goliath? The former was like a grasshopper when compared to the intimidating stature of the latter. Who would dare not fear the beast when he roars in boastful anger? As trained and skilled as the Israelite soldiers were, they were all drowned and consumed in great fear of the giant. I can imagine some denying the fact that they were soldiers at that point, some must have packaged white lies of false sick excuse just to be away from the battle field in the light of their cold feet while some would have remembered the demise of their late grandfather uncle brother’s corpse that was their responsibility to bury. No one could challenge the authority of the Hitler until a certain rat as David would have been referred to in this age showed up with a sling. David carried the weight of the people in the face of goliath’s challenge as he was their only deliverance hope. Of course the story of how the mighty Goliath fell to the stone from the sling isn’t strange to many. Andy Murray was a David in such circumstance faced with a seemingly difficult challenge of confronting the mighty former world number one. He is a young brilliant athlete however unlucky and long tagged with the underachiever status having had many opportunities to enjoy top class glory but would always collapse in the face of the final test.  Four times he has played in a grand slam final and four times he had lost. He became a source of mockery, an element of pity, a joy to a microscopic few and a pain to the entire British Empire. The last time an English man won a grand slam was 1936 hence it was imperative that this dude was looked upon to bring the English folks out of their tennis misery.

Do you know we sometimes find ourselves in such situations? Facing challenges that looks too overwhelming; the pressure of being the first born; the demand of being the first or only son, the weight of being the only graduate in the family; perhaps you are the bread winner everyone looked up to. Sometimes it feels so bad that we just wished there was an alternative route of escape to these unwarranted/undesired pressures of life. As much as we strive to do our best, it’s sometimes fall short to meet the many desires and expectations of our folks, in many cases our best is regarded as not good enough. These times are difficult moments that make us think we are not but just another useless unproductive being; it’s a period when we think a twenty naira note has more value than us. It becomes a mindset issue. So who wins this mindset fight?.......selah

Murray kept pushing, always bouncing up from the failed state that has become a permanent theme. He didn’t care about how many times he failed but how many times he would still succeed. He believed he has the X-factor to make a superstar even though everyone doubted his quality and talents. He was deaf to negative criticism but must have embraced the constructive ones. He changed coach and paid Ivan Lendi to help him reach his target. Truly he must have felt bad after those dark periods of defeat and once wept profusely when he lost in the Wimbledon finals in the presence of the queen and his people but he never gave in to envy, hatred or backbiting as he would celebrate Roger and others every time he lost and they won a final. Shouldn’t we mirror our attitude with that of Murray’s? What do we say when we experience some life blows? Do we have that extraordinary strength to keep on carrying on or do we just resign to accepting the failing fate? How do we react to criticisms be it constructive or destructive; do we see them as a platform to bounce or an opportunity to cave in? Have we ever analyzed the relationships we keep to understand their level of influence? Would we take the bull by the horn to fire some folks in our lives for unproductive returns like Murray did to his ex-coach or do we rob in sentiments of not wanting to lose long existing unfruitful non developing relationships? Do we allow the success of others to affect us so well that we begin to hate and complain at their every action? E.g In the temporal state of bareness, do we pray and rejoice with the couple that just delivered a child? Do we congratulate the friend that just got promoted or do we murmur that it should have been us to have been promoted? Are we truly happy with the neighbor that got a visa or we wished he was denied so as to remain on the same level with us? Do we rejoice with the one that just bought a car or we sell the story that he got the money for purchasing through unworthy means? Do we hate the fact that our colleague met her monthly target at work or we are the ones that silently slander her as a slut who went on sleeping around to get the job done? Do we celebrate and rejoice with our friends that are getting married or we choose to stay away from sharing their joy because we do not enjoy a wonderful relationship such as theirs? Do we assume the friend that passed that exams in flying colours must have cheated just because he/she did better than us? Hmmmmm, of a truth there’s something about humans that trigger unhappiness when people do better than us but have we been able to develop a suppressant to swallow such negative feelings and thoughts? Does life still makes any sense to us when our friends and folks attain successful and enviable heights and we aren’t? .....selah

On September 10th, 2012, Andy Murray finally defied the odds after many trials as he stepped into the hall of fame of the grand slam holders after triumphing over the ferocious Novak Djokovic . Can I ask once again if we are consistent and continually hardworking doing that which is necessary to herald success? Glory is never far away with patience and consistence being the key. Therefore in the face many life pressures, the power of believing in one’s ability and clinching to God’s unfailing source of strength would always create a change of story as only a man with a tough mentality would definitely be victorious at the end of a tough 5set tennis match. If the angel could remind Gideon how powerful he was being a man of valour before he could rise to be the defender of his clan then we must always protect our confidence which has a great reward hence we must always remember that we are much more valuable than the world thinks we are. Dear friend, look inwards, discover strength, believe in your abilities, improve your skills and disappoint the world who has tagged you a failure. Always have in mind that a champion isn’t made in the ring but outside it via prior consistent self belief and hard practice. No one can sentence you to condemnation without your consent, it doesn’t matter how long you have being a faltering never good enough Murray, just keep the right mental picture of that glorious day of breaking forth into a victorious realm and always remember to celebrate those who have gone ahead of you just as Murray would do via his speech after every final he lost. In just a matter of time, it would be your turn to be praised and celebrated, a time to join the league of the successful grand slam holders.

In conclusion friends, it doesn’t matter the names we are initially called during the low moments of struggling and crawling, we aren’t a failure until we see ourselves as such. Even if all we could boast of with our hard work is a small return, we must be patient, we must continually walk in love, never complain, be consistently consistent and sooner or later, the appreciable breakthrough would come and we would get the honour that has long hibernated. A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstance having power over you. Are you a Murray in your field? Worry not for a tournament called US open is around the corner, get ready to kiss the long awaited trophy.

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still....Chinese proverb.

More (people) fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent......Billy Sunday

Written by Olukokun Adedeji