We RACE because we MUST
I wake up to the sound of my alarm, birds singing softly, the whooshing sound of the leaves and branches by my window doesn’t escape my ear and the warmth of my bed make me wish I could just keep in the spot for eternity. Too late, I MUST wake up and prepare for work against my will!
Ever wondered why it feels like we are always at a race with time? Time is never enough as we carry about our day to day activities. We are hard-pressed from all corners.
Time seems to be way ahead of us that we can’t catch up with its pace. Almost everything revolves around time and striving to live a happy life the hard way!
Before we even know it, a day has just ended, a week is gone, a month has elapsed, months gone, a new year is here and looking back at our trail, we can’t but marvel at how much more we still have to get in line.
Looking at all this fills us with frustration, discontent, emptiness, it makes us feel that we are not enough.
The most disheartening part is that after all our tireless efforts, hitting milestones, paying bills and draining all resources, it dawns on us that all we have done is just a tip of an iceberg. what lays before us overpowers our will power.
Nonetheless, we still press on with daily juggling between work, family, and pleasures to the extent that some mornings almost tempt us to fake an ailment but nature won’t let us because we must work regardless of the disappointments.
We hardly know we are racing!
Surprisingly, working is routine. It is almost as involuntary as blinking of an eye. No one keeps count of how many times they blink.
Working to earn a good life is prerequisite for sanity. I strongly believe that there is a fundamental reason why it is this way.
Why the hustling, the innovations, discoveries, why do people have to think too much, acquire an education, set up enterprises, why is there so much hunger for success and work?
This is a universal cause. Whoever knows the simplest religious basics can refer to the fall of man. Being banished from the Garden of Eden has a very great bearing and inherent significance to the life that man has to live.
Having been accursed to “sweat, labour and toil” in return for food, so is man’s life till end of time.
The notion man eateth where he worketh greatly explains the life of man. So if you feel your life is rocky, just try harder. Survival for the fittest is the order of the day.
If daily walk of life was easy…
If life was easy, there wouldn’t be entrepreneurs, role models, radio personalities, pilots, architects and so forth.
In as much as there is a possibility of some existing because it is either their talent or hobby, it is pertinent to note that most of these “hobbies” have been commercialized and are career for those that once referred to them as talent/hobby.
This inevitably places this category too, on the list of people fending to have a desirable life. Everyone is in the struggle.
If it were just about talent and hobby, people would not get professional trainers, compete in tournaments for pay or even make their hobbies lifetime career.
Each time you see a smartly dressed man/ woman driving to work, do not say they are okay and you are not. The reason everyone is working is because there is a vacuum to be filled.
They are doing a refill of what they have exhausted. Had they been okay, they wouldn’t leave the comfort of their beds to rush off to workplace.
The celebrities you look up to are not there to just entertain and make you feel good. They are seeking a fortune as well or sustainability. Whoever you look up to works a great deal to get where they are.
What then does this mean to you?
It cost you nothing to put your own abilities to test because at the end of the day, you are solely accountable for the person you are or become in the nearby future.
“Find out what you love doing best, and get someone to pay you for it” Katherine Whitehorn.
You have a unique trait. Nature is so beautiful. We are all endowed with something unique. An attribute that not everyone has.
Having known that you must strive to live a happy life is enough explanation for you to exercise your capabilities to the fullest.
You will need to invest time, hard work, sacrifice other pleasures so as to position yourself for the beauty life has to offer.
Delve deeper into your naturally gifted ability. It is understandable that many may not have attained the recommended level of education but that is no excuse to sulk or deem one’s self a failure.
Start with what you are capable of; Are you good at football, painting, drawing, dancing, singing, baking, decoration, molding sculptures, comedy?
If yes, do not let the lack of a good education limit you from taking your talent to a great level. Start small, your services will earn you a penny and get you to places, including the education you look up to.
Therefore, when faced with the most appalling situation, the one thing you should know is that you are not alone in struggle.
Everyone is in the same race as you are. Just like in every race, some have their eyes fixed on the finish line whereas others are distracted by personal insecurities that eventually make them lose out.
If you get your eyes off the finish line, you are bound to lose. When you get knocked down, pick yourself up and don’t let those you’ve left behind outcompete you.
There is no escape route, you are on life’s race. The earlier you open your eyes to realize that, the better for you because it will not only give you the ability to accept that you are in a race but also give you the strength to run along with others.
You either lose or win. There’s no in-between.
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward. Martin Luther King Jr.
We RACE because we MUST written by Prudence Uyungrwoth in collaboration with Beauty & the Beast Publishing. Image: Anne Lefèvre-Balleydier on Pintrest