Be Mindful Of Your Wishes Too

I used to do things or take decisions against my better judgement in the past, just to please people or to show respect/regards for people I respect. But I found out with time that anytime I do this, things don't turn out well. At least, not for me. Sometimes, not for anyone else.

In Africa, especially in Nigeria, we bring up our children to always defer to our wishes. We train them to believe that doing this is a sign of respect and home trainning. It is perfectly okay for us to do so, as long as we balance such training with encouraging them to have a mind of their own, to express their opinions respectfully and to always follow their inner leading when faced with contrary opinion (s) from people on important issues.

While it is good and necessary to guide and mentor our children, we must be careful not to pattern their lives to be a replica of our own or to punish them for the mistakes we made in ours. As dear as your children are to you, they are different from you. They have their own destinies to fulfil. After training them in the right way, we must allow them to be an individual in their own right. We must teach them how to be responsible and accountable. And there is no way we can do this but by giving them the freedom to make their own decisions. After counselling and advising them, leave them to grow up.

The same thing goes for us as adults with aged parents. We can't keep running to Mummy and Daddy every time we're faced with difficulties in life. It's great to have them to lean on for support, but we must have a mind of our own and learn to know what we want from life and go for it despite all the risk(s) involved.

If we don't start taking risk and go for what we want now, when are we going to do so? Is it when we turn grey and our time has past? Life is all about taking risk, it's about going for our dreams. It's about using our hands to create the life we want. It's about believing in ourselves, following our hearts/destinies, and staying true to our faith.

Life is about saying No or Yes as the case may be when that is what your heart says, irrespective of who might be hurt by your answer.

Because when all chips are done, you'll bear the consequence of every decision made in your life. So therefore, make all the important decisions in your life your decision.

Life is to be enjoyed and not to be endured!