From 2021 African person of the year Dr Emmanuel Taban.
The unpredictability of life gives us the opportunity to create a world full of possibilities. It allows us to be creative, imaginative, and innovative. Not knowing exactly what lies ahead is what makes anything possible.
In Life’s beginning and end – the middle, no matter how long or short, is where we have control. This maze of life will take you to a dead end. Sometimes quickly and sometimes after numerous twists and turns. The Amazing thing is that we can always STOP, Step back, RETHINK and TRY a new path. If we choose to quit, sit down, and cry but never blame anyone and take full responsibility on your path of the failure because after all you can only learn from your own mistakes. BUT if we continue looking for that right path, we retake the opportunity to a new height without complaining. One that will fulfil our hearts desire.
We will fail and experience loss, but failure and heartache are our steppingstones to success. Our past is what connect our past dots to the future. The direction is up to you.
Never giving up is a mountaineering skill that requires passion, determination, consistency, ambition, planning, endurance, safety, and self-belief. For me Life is one amazing mountain climb. We each have our own mountain of life. The view at the top is the ultimate crystal clear and far more valuable when we have started from the bottom without handout or entitlement. There is no short cut to the top. The falling rocks, avalanches, crevices, steep slopes, and the invisible altitude are all the dangers we face but they are planted in your path to eliminate the weakest. This is what life throws at us and how we choose to climb is what gives us that fulfilment. Overcoming these little dangers is what drives me to go forward. The greater the danger the more valuable the treasure. There are no boundaries between race, gender, age, sex, height, or disability in our mountain because they are unchangeable. These are all just the hazards that we come across and need to make our way around. Don’t let the hazards you face stop you from getting to the top. Embrace it and accept the challenge. Let it make you stronger not weaker. Use it to your advantage. The higher you go up the harder it gets but also the easier you fall if you lose focus. Your passion, determination, consistency is oxygen in your life support so always keep it close by. The size of our mountain is not always up to us but how we manoeuvre it is up to our individual qualities.
Let’s be the best mountain climbers we can be in 2022. Avoid the falling rocks and avalanches and prepare to acclimatise when it is required. The future is in our hands to build so let’s keep it unpredictable.
Life is journey that needs purpose.