by Ifeanyi Okonkwo

 

Many times I wonder how people like Abraham Lincoln found the courage to realize that they can, even when confronted by impossible obstacles, for at age twenty-two he failed in business and even when he ran for legislature the next year, he was still far away from success.

Helen Keller was a child everybody would easily have considered not only as grossly unfortunate but dismissed with the wave of a careless hand without a second thought to her second-to-none chance of amounting to anything at all, for she became deaf and blind while an infant. This was in the late 1980’s when medical science was more or less still in its infancy. If she were just blind, then her other faculties would have been harnessed in her learning process but she was blind also and had even more challenges in controlling her emotions. With the help of Anne Sullivan, she began learning to pronounce words again, vowing never to give up and working hard until she became the first deaf and blind to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, authored over 12 books to become a world-famous speaker and author, met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and many many more deeds of bravery that men of stature could not have achieved in three lifetimes.

 

If people like Helen did not give up but kept keeping on, you cannot give up now. You cannot give up for your story will pale when place side by side with theirs.

Many times I wonder how people like Abraham Lincoln found the courage to realize that they can, even when confronted by impossible obstacles, for at age twenty-two he failed in business and even when he ran for legislature the next year, he was still far away from success. Two years later, he failed again in business, another two years and the love of his life passed away. When he could not handle it anymore, a year later, he suffered a nervous breakdown. At 29, 34 and 39 he failed politically. At 46 he lost the race for senate and the next year he failed again to in his bid to become vice president. You would have thought that the man should give up now but he did not until he became one of the best presidents the United States has seen.

To the poor kid out there being mentally bullied by his rich friends, to every young graduate out there without a job and wondering where to start from,  to the youth out there, left on his own to struggle and survive all by himself in a cold harsh world, to the single parent wondering where  to pick up the pieces from, to the one that has lost a dear loved one, to the one who had to sacrifice college education to take up a job to support his family, to the man that has lost it all, to the man who wants to but is unable to provide for his family yet, to the one lying on a sick bed without a reason to live, to the one who has lost all motivation, that thinks there is no more reason to continue in the fight, I am here to tell you that you can. You can because, this is not the end of the road. You can because God has got your back. Yes you can, for this too shall pass. I know you can, because I believe in your dreams and I believe in you. I know you can because many people’s success depend on yours and I know you cannot afford to let them down. Oh yes you are not giving haters the privilege of mocking- not anymore. I know you can because I believe you will stand up and fight for your future. I know you can, because I see a giant in you, only it has not been awakened.

 

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Ifeanyi J. Igbokwe is a peak performance expert, motivational speaker, consultant and an action coach with special interest with personal and corporate growth and effectiveness. [email protected]

 

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