AM I A SUCCESS?

Hmm, Mrs. Adindu has given me a JAMB question to answer o, lol. When I got this topic, the first thing that sprung on my mind was when I chose to feature at the Glo X factor auditions in 2014. 

To be honest, I still do not know why I did that because by all standards, I was not prepared for that kind of stage. Perhaps, I felt bored at home and needed to spray some fun in my life. Anyway, the first stage came and I remember how I dressed that day, ridiculous! When my friend came to pick me, I could never forget her reaction. She said, Öh, I knew you were joking about it. You, X factor? You should have told me before I left my house and I would have gone to see my boyfriend instead.”I allowed her finish her rants and then I picked my purse and said, Ïf you are ready, I am.”She laughed. “Are you joking Mary? Wait a minute, did you have any rehearsals? You think its Babcock? Do you have the slightest idea of how these things work? And hold a sec, are you really going out dressed like this? Well, we eventually left after much arguments. On arrival, I heard voices that threw me off balance at an instance. Of course, I began to second guess myself but I could hold it in. Fortunately, I scaled through the first stage, and the second, and the third and the fourth and the fifth, until I qualified for the finals that was aired. In all of this, I kept gathering momentum or so I thought until the day came. 

As I stood there, before all present and future audience, I knew I had lost it. In a quick flash, I began to curse those who had encouraged me to that level under my breath because I thought this was going to be an international disgrace. Well to cut the long story short, I flopped and was disqualified. I remember  the host presenter holding me and consoling me but I wouldn’t stop sobbing. I got home and for three days and nights I kept crying and beating myself for going to embarrass myself on such a platform but had I known that God had turned my rejection to connection and that the platform was just a steppingstone to what God actually had in store for me, I would have danced. 

Then one faithful evening, my Grandmother of blessed memory walked into my room and saw me weeping. I believe she felt my pain even though I said nothing. She told me the most powerful thing in her own language that changed my definition of success forever. She said, “Mary, if you knew who you were, you wouldn’t shed another tear. You are not just a blessing to this family but to your generation and the world at large. This world should be glad you walked through it. If you knew what you carried, you would understand that you are too big to be belittled. Hold on to God, you are about to be revealed.”

How was I to react to this “old, uneducated, sweet woman”? 

Needless to say, I took whatever she said with a pinch of salt but you see, God doesn’t need a vessel with perfect diction or good experiencial wealth or terrific delivery skills to convey His message sometimes. Oh have I told you how prior to this experience, I had found reasons upon reasons to feel like a failure? How I was lost in my academic trail and almost felt like throwing in the towel? How I would measure my “progress” with that of my mates who left me behind when I had an incidence that claimed my sight? Haha, the devil is a liar! 

Many months passed and I got a call one Sunday evening. The lady at the other end sounded very warm and pois as she presented me with an offer to tell my inspiring story” on an executive platform at the Diaspora Conference, in Abuja. Ah, me? Inspiring keh? Tailess cow? This call must have been misdirected. A week later, the same lady called and asked for my details to book a business class seat for me to Abuja and stressed that I should please send my address. I tried to swallow quick and asked her how she knew me and how she got my number. My fingers froze when she confirmed with me that I featured at the X factor auditions and they just compiled a list of inspiring stories and that I topped it. This couldn’t be wishful thinking, I assured myself. I ran to my Grandma and told her about it. She told me to prepare, wait and watch.

 Nov 20th, I stood before the Senior Special Advicer to the President on Youth Matters and other dignitaries who were present and shared what I thought was the darkest part of my life, what I considered a failure, what I wasn’t proud of, the story of my life, from cradle to moment. I found myself speaking to the parts of people that they never thought existed. I found myself reviving hopes and awakening desires and drives. I returned to Lagos, pondering on the event and I realised that I had just began to fulfil my purpose. I felt within me a satisfaction that was unfamiliar; and that was how my life started. 

You see, my friends, success has nothing to do with external standards; it has everything to do with what you have been called to do, the knowing of that  purpose, the going after that purpose and the God factor. Let me break it down. A lot of us have allowed people, circumstances and the society define success for us. Our generation has a philosophy about success: “money, fame, power and the I’m better than others”standards”. You know what I’m saying?

Success is like happiness. You have to own your own success. You cannot take it away from other people, demanding that they validate your success; your church cannot define success for you, your society cannot define success for you, your money, your job and everything you have cannot define success for you. You’ve got to be responsible and define your own success by yourself. You need to discover and do those things that bring joy into your own heart, independently of life, money, pressure, people and all that stuff. All these things don’t necessarily give you fulfilment. You have to take control over that peace and that joy that live inside of your heart and not inside of your stuff. Little wonder some people have all these things that the society qualifies as success yet they are unhappy. If you can enjoy the journey of success, you will enjoy the destination.

Crucial, you must know what you’re going after. You cannot live your life meandering around and hoping you’d hit something and you say that’s what I was aiming at. You have to have a specific target in mind. 

So in conclusion, first of all, we need to cast down the greatest enemy of success which is the fear of failure.

Secondly, success is the potential destiny of all created things. Every seed has a tree in it and the potential success of that tree is in that seed and that’s the way you are. Whatever you aare born to do and be is in you now and the success of your life depends on you becoming all that’s trapped inside of you.

Third, define your success. Success is the completion and the fulfilment of the original intent and purpose of your existence or why you were created. Success is really very simple. Its you discovering your purpose and then completing it before you die. In other words, success must be measured by why you were created. Success is therefore, purpose fulfilled. Success is not measured by what you’ve done compared to what others have done. 

How then do you measure success? Success is measured by what you’ve done compared to what you should and could have done. In other words, the only people who know how SUCCESSFUL you are, are you and God. That’s why the Bible says the race is not to the swift. You don’t come first because you are ahead. The race is for those who endure to the end; they finish what they start; that’s success. Purpose therefore, is the key to success. 

Heres a statement I found: what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. This simply means that what’s important is within you now regardless of the failures of the past and the fears of the future. God has placed in you everything you need to become all you were born to be and you are carrying it right now. What a tragedy to be successful in the wrong thing. 

Omoyeme.