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You are Not a Prisoner of Your Past

Darasimi Oshodi

The ability to recall facts, events and names of people is a trait that is admired by many. I believe this is also a trait that is needed for one to succeed in academics and other areas of life. People are usually pleased when people remember their names and they tend to think such persons regard them as special. So the ability to remember things is one that everybody should possess (and I think everybody possesses this ability to a degree).

Every one of us also possesses the ability to forget things. It is just natural with us to forget things because of the enormous amount of information that we take in all the time.  My inspirational teacher explained human beings’ ability to forget things in a write-up he titled How Old is Your Knowledge? He explains that human knowledge can easily become stale or obsolete if not used all the time. He explained this with a graphic analogy: Knowledge is like documents that come into a pigeon-hole. The first document to come in soon takes the back seat as more documents are placed in the pigeon-hole. This means, he said, that the knowledge acquired today soon becomes obsolete or forgotten when not applied. So it is just natural for us to forget things. Continue reading “You are Not a Prisoner of Your Past”

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The Power of Taking The First Step

Each passing second, several ideas play out in one’s mind. The human mind conceives numerous ideas that are capable of turning the world around positively within a millisecond. Perhaps this was the reason Napoleon Bonaparte once asserted that “ideas rule the world”. But despite the myriad of ideas that dot our minds daily, several people, especially in Africa still live below poverty level. What could be responsible for this? What makes those that activate their ideas different from those that do not?

In my research I have come to realise that there are actually two categories of people in this world: those who make their dreams happen and those that wait for their dreams to happen. It appears more than 70% of Africans belong to the latter category. We wait more often than not for our dreams to happen. This may be why we seem complacent consuming what others produce. Instead of taking action on at least one out of the multiple ideas that come to mind everyday, we seem comfortable talking about them. But I think we need to begin to walk the talk. It is not sufficient to churn out ideas; the ideas become useful when we expedite action on them.

In 2005 when I relocated from Lagos to Ile-Ife in Nigeria, I met a young man who studied Agricultural Science in one of Nigeria’s universities. He spoke to me about the inherent opportunities in snail farming. He spoke glowingly about it that I became interested in it. I launched out immediately. With some used tyres, I bought just 17 snails to commence the business. Before I knew what was happening snail rearing became synonymous with my name in my area. It was after I launched out that I discovered that the young man who told me about it did not even have a single snail. In fact, I became his consultant later. A graduate of Literature-in-English consulting for Agricultural Science graduate on snail rearing. Today, I run a farm where I do not just rear snails, but also chickens, rabbits and a host of other animals. Such was the power of taking the first step!

I believe that if I had been waiting for the dream of rearing snails to happen without making it happen myself, it might have been a mirage! Our society can actually be a better place to live in and we can become shinning examples to others around us if only we can take action on one of the several ideas that come to our mind daily. We need to take the first step in the right direction without nursing fear and every other thing shall follow.

We must know that nothing moves until we move it.

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