The Big Picture

No one can achieve any worthwhile achievement without seeing the picture ahead. What this implies is that the future you cannot picture you cannot capture it. Everything that we see without is a product of the picture within. What kind of future do you picture in your mind? Are you so limited by your current circumstances that you cannot see beyond your reality now? No matter what you are going through at the moment, the good news is that if you can dream it you can actually achieve it.

As a university undergraduate I had only a pair of trousers and two shirts. The pair of trousers was brown in colour and this afforded me the opportunity to wear it for a long period of time without washing! Anytime I washed it I had to tie a wrapper, with supplication to God that it would not rain. Otherwise, it would be a disaster. Besides this, I also could not afford to buy lecture materials. So I resorted to borrowing reading materials from colleagues. I would read these materials with voracious appetite as I had to return them on time. It was really a life of struggle, toiling and anguish. In all of these however, I never for once saw myself as a failure. I forged ahead like a Trojan as I could see clearly the big picture – The big picture of a better tomorrow, when I will become a solution provider, when what I was going through would be used to encourage others in similar situations. It was such a bright and beautiful tomorrow!

There is no doubt that I suffered one humiliation or the other in the hands of friends, colleagues and even family relations. At times, these humiliations weighed me down, but what kept me going was the fact that I saw and still see myself as a unique being with no copy anywhere. I knew what I was going through was only but for a while if only I could hold on to the big picture. I got immersed in my studies both within the four walls of the classroom and beyond. I kept on honing my writing and public speaking skills. Despite coming through a woman who did not have more than a school leaving certificate, I was working on myself to see that I would be able to hold my own anywhere and anytime.

At the end of my programme in the university, I graduated as the overall best student in my class. And this marked the beginning of my turnaround in life. Today, I have the world at my feet, not necessarily because I am the best in my field, but because I never gave up when the odds were stashed high against me. Today, I am a sought-after speaker at social events, conferences, workshops, among others. The once rejected stone has now become the chief cornerstone of the house. Those that used to make jest of me because of my poor status as an undergraduate now celebrate me. Those who would not want to have anything to do with me then now want to associate with me. How time changes!

What are you going through at the moment? Are you dissatisfied with where you are? Do you think the whole world is against you? I will like you to know that it is not where you are that matters but where you are going to. The Yoruba people in the southwest, Nigeria have this to say that “one should not be distracted by the noise emanating from the market; rather one should be more concerned about the purpose of coming to the market”. Whatever you are going through now is a mere noise oozing out of the market. Your concern should be about your purpose in life. What do you see yourself becoming tomorrow? What picture can you see? Work at it. Believe in yourself. Trust in God. And before long, the big picture becomes your reality.