THE SOLUTION YOU SEEK OUTSIDE IS INSIDE OF YOU

I was at the Inter-house competition in my daughter’s school some years ago.

The various houses competed in different athletic categories.

One of those that held my fancy was the Sack race, due to the intricacies of what transpired that day.

At whistle-blow, the athletes competing in this category took off, and like Mo Farah, one of the athletes sped off like a flash of light and gave his fellow athletes such a wide gap, it was intriguing.

It was a 100m journey and the guy already did about 70m with a gallant mastery that made it seemed the sack did not affect his movement.

…Then something happened …,

…Just about 20m or thereabout to the touchline, the guy started struggling with his sack.

Oh, his legs are stuck,

We were all looking at him imagining what would happen next, though we were somehow hoping that he would get on top of it, considering the distance with which he was already ahead of his fellow contestants. We thought he should be fine and overcome the turbulence if he handled the situation well with the skill he already exhibited so far.

Oh no! Things are getting worse.

He started wobbling, the sack was getting off his grip, he couldn’t move well again, he looked back and now some of his colleagues were closing up on him. Now he got anxious, still struggling with the sack he was holding. The next thing we saw was our guy on the floor, he fell, trying so hard to get up and stabilize.

Now one of his fellow contestants finally caught up, and ran past him, he managed to get up but still struggling with his stuck legs inside the sack.

Yet again another person raced past him feeling good with himself.

At last, he managed to get up though still wobbling his way on.

Waoh,

Isn’t that how some of us are in the business of life?

We started with such grandeur mastery and hope,

… then along the way,

… when we think we have it all in our hands,…

… The bubble burst,

… Then a blast.

Now we start rambling and scamping for quick fixes.

Our guy there would have still headed home having all in his pocket if he had not allowed anxiety stole the day.

What could he have done differently when he got stuck in the sack?

* Calm down, of course, he already had the distance advantage, a relatively long one.

* Fix his focus on himself and quickly think of a solution, at that instance to unstuck his legs and have a proper grip of the sack.

* Then continue his race and got home clean.

But what did he do?

* He first tried to keep wobbling ahead without fixing the problem

* He lost focus on himself and shifted focus to his colleagues

* He panicked and became anxious seeing his fellow contestant closing up

* Left the real problem unresolved while trying quick fixes

He eventually managed to wobble his way to the finish-line coming third.

Just how the narratives of our lives would have been different if we had taken a pragmatic approach to the issues of our lives.

* Focus inward to ourselves to be able to access necessary information. The information you need is in you and not outside.

* Accurately define the situation

* Assess the situation to know the cause

* Determine possible solutions

* Take responsibility and implement the ideal solution.

Sir Thomas Browne said, “ We carry within us the wonders we seek without us”