Arise and dust off

 

The worst thing about falling is staying down even after falling. The wisest move is to get up immediately before anyone can see you. At one time I fell in town the ‘big’ whole me. The unfortunate thing is that there were so many men surrounding me. It took a second for me to fall on my behind and a quarter of that second to get on my feet.

The instinct that comes to mind after falling is to get back up again. The journey doesn’t continue but stands still awaiting you in your fallen state. Behind every strong individual, there was falling and more at one point in life. The down moments we face can either make us or break us. Rather what you do after you’ve fallen, makes you, or breaks you.

I love people with a story. I always get enticed by a successful person who has a story. The kind that once were a prostitute, a street kid, grown up in a slum, had a horrific experience, etc. and their lives changed at some point. Like the story of Pastor Terry Gobanga, a woman who was kidnapped during her wedding day, raped by several men, one stabbing her in the womb rupturing it. Thus, robbing her the opportunity of ever becoming a mother. She later lost her husband briefly into the marriage. Termed as a cursed person, she then finds love. Gets married and God gives her the opportunity to become a mom beyond all odds. Such gives me hope and shows there is hope after tragedy.

The story of a man makes his worth more admirable. All of us or at least some of us have been through a harrowing experience according to our perspective, but what we make of ourselves determines who we are. You can decide either to allow the moment to define you, or you define the moment.

I for one hate any form of duress in my life. When we allow circumstances to determine who we are, it’s same as welcoming dictatorship in our life, some colonialism. At some point in my life, I held unforgiveness, and it negatively affected the happenings in the next couple of months going to more than two years of my life. Out of that, guilt and all manner of self-condemnation cropped up. It clouded my ways and affected what I felt I did and didn’t deserve. Depression was an acquaintance and at some point suicide came close to an option. When I was finally able to let go of that, and most of all forgive myself, I found meaning to life and it could have never been better.

Moments are not supposed to determine neither enslave you. You are to emerge a victor rather than a victim out of that. One slogan that keeps me going is “This too shall pass.” Just like the bible says you will never be tempted above that which you can handle. I believe in that. Anything that comes your way, you are able and have the strength to overcome it. Lift up yourself, shake off the dust and fight until you can come out of that circumstances. That too shall pass. Life is much more than a situation that wants to control and steal your joy. You are stronger than you can imagine. Fight, fight to stand up. If you can’t do it by yourself, hold on to what is next to you and get back up again.