It has been observed that a moving train is hardly stoppable by any external force. However, the train standing still at the station can be prevented from moving if an object is placed in front of the iron steel wheels on the track. This should teach us that it takes so much energy to get started but very little energy is required to keep moving.
A lot of people are afraid of keeping a consistent pace because they cannot have the benefit of seeing beyond the next bend. As a result, they stay in one place to contemplate, consider, analyze and procrastinate. The journey of life is not like someone who has been to that future you intend to go and then comes back to give you an idea or a clue as to what you should expect. You might have to stumble into a lot of discoveries yourself. You have to necessarily discover some things for yourself since your purpose for life is unique and different. Being scared of moving for not knowing what lies ahead is therefore a journey that may never be taken. I once heard someone say that “over-analysis causes paralysis”.
In the living of a goal-oriented life, you must keep moving even though you might not say for certain what lies ahead. You might have a clue but you may never be totally sure. Most of your walk must therefore be by faith in the God in whom you trust and in the reality of what you seek to achieve.
Sometime in the summer of 2007, I embarked on a journey of 1,550 kilometers to cover Abuja-Makurdi-Kano-Abuja in just two days. My schedule was to get to Makurdi from Abuja on Saturday morning to visit my father who was bedridden after a minor surgery, speak to a students’ body at the Benue State University for 2 hours and see my siblings in my family house in the same town before hitting the road for Kano the same day. I left Abuja on schedule and got to Makurdi at 9.15 am. I sat for half an hour with my dad in the hospital and headed for the family house and spent only 30 minutes there. I drove to the University campus and spoke from 11.45 to 1.30 pm. Had a whistle stop over at the hospital to tell my dad I was on my way and eventually left Makurdi at 3.30 pm. My destination was Kano, nearly 800 kilometers away.
By the time I arrived Akwanga, a town in Nassarawa State, just 170 kilometers from Makurdi, the car developed a major mechanical problem. The water pump was leaking, but I never knew what was happening as the temperature kept rising. I had to keep a jerry can of water in the car to constantly refill the empty radiator. The speed at which I was travelling had to drop to avoid over-heating the engine. But I kept moving – even against the advice of a concerned Road Safety Officer who upon learning that I was heading for Kano advised that I pass the night in Akwanga. The time at this point was 6.00 pm.
Sensing that traveling through the thick forest road of Southern Kaduna would be disastrous if the car eventually stopped in the middle of nowhere, I decided to take the Jos route and entered Jos, Plateau State in Central Nigeria at 10 pm.
At Jos, comfort zone sense demanded that I pass the night in that city and continue the journey the next day but purpose sense said, “keep moving”. I had to travel through the lonely Jos-Kano road between 10.25 pm and 2.15 am when I eventually arrived Kano. If you are familiar with the Jos-Kano trunk road in Nigeria, you may remember the famous Falgori forest known for high profile robberies and stray wild beasts straying from the Yankari Game Reserve just across the border in Bauchi State. I had to go through tens of check points mounted by security forces to achieve my dream of entering Kano that night. All these happened because I refused to stop but kept moving.
You will get to your dream place in life faster than you anticipate if you keep momentum. Refuse to give up; don’t give in; don’t give out; keep moving towards your goal.
There is no doubt that you are going to face obstacles, but no barrier is powerful enough to stop a determined and purpose oriented individual. The force of purpose brought under a determined and focused person will always prevail over any barrier put in front of it.
Are you being harassed and intimidated? Keep moving. Do you have men talking down on you? Keep moving. Refuse to get distracted. Is your business up against some strange attacks by competitors? Keep moving. The intention of all these distractive activities are all geared towards making you to abort your journey, but if you keep moving, sooner or later, you will become a celebrated icon and we all shall begin to call you a celebrity.
PS: The piece is a chapter culled from my yet to be released book "BUSY STANDING STILL - getting rid of organized emptiness". If you require an advanced e-copy of the full book, I can make it available to you at a token amount.
Kindly send me an email @ goba_ogwuche@yahoo.com and I will supply you with the payment details you need to make to obtain a full version of BUSY STANDING STILL.
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