September 9, 2013

I was browsing through a blog owned by a Twitter friend when something interesting caught my attention and became the basis of my story. It’s not about cattle, neither about Fulani adventure; it’s something that indeed touched me in a positive way. Something even “Yar Fulani me Nono”; whose daily routine is milking cow and selling for few returns; can simply apply its terms on that proportion.

Educated in the western way, the strategy will be quite different and more achievable, so here I am ‘Yar Fulani a Turai narrating a story that has given a lot of meaning to me; and I guess it would to you too after reading this piece; and all thanks to Shams as the nickname on the blog suggests.

I read his posts; to some pieces, I laughed, to some I smiled, but to one in particular; it was a story on its own. I paused to think because the headline says it all; and the photo that accompanied it gave a vivid description.

It reads: “Believe in yourself”, and the photo was that of a man holding a paper which signifies his dream; walking towards a goal. His goal was not far from him, but to his left and right were horrible people with all sorts of weapons, I guess they were trying to stop him from reaching the goal, or so I think. The People to his left were addressed as; friends, pessimists and the society, while those to his right were addressed as relatives, guilt, and fear.

A man, a dream, distracters and a goal…that’s the story I am going to tell you today.

Hmm… I made a sigh!

Not that of relief though but one which signifies that a lot needs to be done if one really want to achieve a goal; especially with all those distracting factors set out to hinder success.

It’s a fact; we all have dreams that we want to see come true, some we work towards their actualization while some we relent, perhaps as a result of hitches we encountered and probably from any of the distracting factor addressed in the photo I described.

When it becomes impossible to achieve…we usually give up and pursue another dream; and like it or not, this amounts to a failure on our side! Even the new dream if not properly addressed, will also end up the same way, because we failed to realize that something is missing.

Do you know what’s missing?

I know, and it is one simple sentence, and that is; “Believe in yourself!”

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Many people today, go about doing things without actually believing in their ability to do it. Some rely on luck while others take whatever faith throws at them; and in front of their eyes, they witnessed their dreams perish.

Believing in ourselves is the key to making our goals achievable, just as Rachel Corrie explained. She said; “Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don’t give up.” This is quite easier said than done, and one thing we never bothered to ask ourselves is; “do we really believe in ourselves? Do we believe that we can”?

As children or as adults; we all have dreams, we also want those dreams to come true; but do we really believe in the actualization of those dreams? Or rather, do we really believe in our abilities to make our dreams a reality?

Yes, the ability to have a dream is something everyone possesses, but believing in it and pursuing it is a different ballgame.

I believe this is the same problem we are facing in Nigeria today because I can still remember; a few years back when I was practising Broadcast Journalism; I met so many people who gave up on their dreams. Many factors contributed to it, but a lot has to do with the fact that they don’t believe in themselves.

I always liked it when am interviewing someone on what really affects him as an individual; and not the craps that are happening in the society, because that is one moment that you will really hear things as they affect people.

There’s the story of a man in Kano who gave up all hope and allowed his dream to be washed away, he never cared to pursue it, and I don’t think he realized his mistakes despite my intervention which I shouldn’t have as a journalist, but hey I am human too and I have emotions.

He was a petty trader before he was turned a beggar, as the government of the state ejected him out of the business he conducts in an area of the ancient city of Kano called “Bakin asibiti”; not far from the main gate of the city’s General Hospital. If you know Kano too well; and you are familiar with the area; you should understand how business was being conducted there; as the place used to be very rowdy with traders displaying all sorts of things by the roadside while buyers bend down to select what they may wish to bargain. This became something the authority frowned at, saying it’s generating a lot of traffic and making the movement of vehicles especially those driving into the General hospital on emergency cases very hard, and so they evicted them. This man; whose name I can’t remember, but his story still afresh resorted to begging as he narrates his story to me.; “I can’t rent a shop and there is nothing I can do. I have to feed my family so the only option is to beg.”

He has given up on his dream because he doesn’t believe in himself; he doesn’t believe that he can pursue his dream from a petty trader and one day becomes a successful businessman.

How many more in Nigeria have today given up on their dreams? How many abandoned dreams will if pursued to reality could have changed so many lives? How many abandoned dreams that if realized could have solved our problems today?

Yes we have problems in Nigeria, and we have to do something about them; but one thing to start with is; believing in our abilities that we can!

Indian Scientist Abdul Kalam once said; “You have to dream before your dreams come true,” but on a funny note, I could argue that today in Nigeria, we either don’t sleep enough to dream or we don’t wake up to pursue those dreams… (laughs) and French poet Paul Valery was right when he said; “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”

Yes, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Don’t just wake up, but believe you can make your dreams come true. You must do all you can to make your dreams come true, stay focused and chase your dream; It’s hard but it’s rewarding. Remember that to keep your dreams alive, you have to know that everything requires faith, belief, vision, hard work, determination and dedication.

You have to also understand that even though you are not too far from your goal, you may encounter some factors lurking in the shadows that can directly or indirectly stop you from reaching there. So be determined and do not allow uncertainty and insecurity to chase you or stand in the way of your dream. You have to decide how you want your life to be and assume if your forever was ending tomorrow, would this be how you’d want to have spent it? So don’t be afraid, instead be alive.”

Napoleone Hill said; “cherish your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”

Lastly, hid to Chris Brown’s advice; “Follow your dreams, but just make sure to have fun too.”