Opinion: Potentiality Digest: What Do You Owe Yourself?

By Sulyman Sodeeq Abdulakeem

Life always evolve on the backdrop of inquisition.

Have you ever taken time out to reflect on the fact that before you can lay your hands on what belongs to you in life and claim your portion from what life has to offer you; you have to become indebted to something you will tenaciously and fervently strive to pay?

In other words, you must understand that you are under terms and conditions you must meet before you can be rewarded in life.

It is absolutely true that we all desire recognition; to be acknowledged in life, to be reverred and addressed among those who influenced decisions and events happening around us – or across the world. However, before those wishes become reality, you have to find something that if you can achieve it, it will increase your self-belief, worth, values and transform your perception about life.

Many lives have been wrongly lived, many aspirations have been trapped and many souls have been wrongly led because all they strive to meet up to is the purpose and targets set for them by other people – parents, friends, relatives – instead of setting for themselves goals and targets that would command their interest and drive and stir their sense of self indebtedness.

Like all other persons alive, you may be thinking you deserve the best. You deserve to win the top prizes, to be celebrated for your feats and strides and to champion your breakthroughs. But those wonderful accolades cannot be realised, if you don’t find something that will occupy the central page of your life, with the strong convictions that if you achieve it, it will be the impetus for living in your dream. It was aptly advised by Robin Sharma that “Believe in your dreams, reach for the stars and have the destiny that you know is yours!”

Knowing what you owe yourself don’t only fuel your inner worth, it also ingrain your mind with the clear view of your purpose, goals and dreams which the directions you always set for your life is premised on there actualisation. In your quest to fill what you owe yourself, you may be ridiculed, abused and discouraged by people who don’t believe what has been planted in you. But if you don’t let all those negatives wound your mind, your life becomes the subject of abundance healing.

The true worths of life of the successful men we are cherishing their triumphs and breakthroughs today are not discovered in living here and there in order to appear everywhere; their true worths are discovered in finding somewhere they can fervently lived which will take them everywhere. Gbenga Adebambo said, “In life, the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.”

It was the drive of identifying what you owe yourself that propelled Bayode Treasure-Olawunmi – a brand specialist – to set the new Guinness World Record for the “Longest Marathon Reading Aloud,” in 2018. The record was previously held by Deepak Sharma Barjagain of Nepal, who set his own record marathon reading aloud with 113 hours 15 minutes, in 2008, by reading 17 books from 13 different authors.

But as a book enthusiast, Bayode realised there was a need for him to rewrite the course of history, by raising the voice of the need to encourage the reading culture among the youths. On February 26th 2018, around 1:30 pm, at the YouRead Library at Yaba, Lagos; he started the reading aloud contest that ended around 3:30pm on Saturday, 3rd of March, 2018, which elevated him to become the new champion with 122 hours reading aloud non-stop, and 2 hours break in every 24 hours.

Because Bayode made the sacrifice in of filling what he owes himself, he stands tall and walks on his feet to claim his feat. Because Bayode reignited the passion for reading among the youths, he is now a beacon whose light shines upon other people’s paths and send the message of hope to them. Because Bayode believed he can do it, he is now an advocate and ambassador of purpose, whose name is etched on the walls in gold!

Down be down to earth for the rejections, setbacks and failures you have come across in defining your life, be enliven to make your own definition of your life. Life has something for you that is enclosed somewhere. For you to uncover your own reservoir of riches and wealth and makes you soar in a world you can be proud of, find what you owe yourself! Because Barack Obama knew this secret, he charged us by saying “You have to be determined to meet the time on your own terms.”