Teens Meet Outreach

A wonderful friend of mine came to me one day and asked, ‘what do you like doing apart from music and discussing God’s word that gives you joy?‘ Writing articles and speaking words that motivate people, I replied. ‘Whoa! Our football training starts tomorrow and I am not sure if I am at my best due to challenges that surround me and are really weighing me down, please motivate me’, he responded.

As I was having the discussion with him, I thought a lot of people could benefit from it and I have decided to speak about the same thing I discussed with him here…

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 Many at times we always wish c and so we are always discouraged whenever it does. But I have come to realize that it’s quite impossible to live a life void of challenges, complications and so on.

Some situations will catch us unaware and must be dealt with or they might keep us on our knees forever.

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{Read: 5 Challenges Successful People Overcome}

But the truth is that the complications and unforeseen situations that come our way which tend to challenge us daily is what make life what it is. If I know what would happen per day, then life would be ‘boring’.

Life is not meant to be predictable. That’s what makes it life!

Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not saying you shouldn’t plan your life towards a goal but that would be a sum total (a destination if you would). But knowing what would happen each day – that would be awkward.

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I saw a movie titled THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU. There’s a guy in this movie who had the kind of life that he wanted to live planned out since he was 12years old. He dreamt of having a perfect wife, a great job with a great pay, the perfect car and so on. Well, as good as that might have sounded, he ‘over planned’ things and gave no room for life to have its way.

Yes, he got all -or at least almost all- he planned to have. But like I said earlier: ‘he didn’t give room for life to have its way’. After some years and he was already comfortable with his life. Suddenly, his son died! This broke his marriage as he didn’t give his wife the needed attention anymore. His wife started sleeping with his boss and he caught both of them having sex on his wife’s birthday with cake in his hands. He lost his job.

The following day, while he was still trying to figure out what to do, he got a call from his sister announcing the death of his Father! He divorced his wife and a few months later, he met his old time girlfriend and thought things could at least work out with her. While he was still trying to heal up, the former wife came to him to announce that she was pregnant for him. So, his life went all the way from ‘perfect’ to ‘so very complicated’ in about a year!

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You see, life is not always perfect and in my opinion, that’s what makes it life in the first place. So, you shouldn’t think there won’t be challenges in the first place.

Having established that challenges cannot be avoided. Let’s see how that affects your passion.

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How to See Your Passion and What to Avoid

First of all, like I told this friend of mine, your passion should be what helps you escape from the rest of the world.

When challenges come your way and issues of life try to sway you, that which you’re passionate about should be where you find joy and fulfilment.

Never allow what you’re going through take away the joy you get when you do that which you’re passionate about.

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Now, there are some things you must avoid so as to keep the pressure out of your passion. 

1. Be Fulfiled and Joyful

Always make sure that you are doing that which you’re passionate about to feel fulfilled and joyful. Never do it to please or impress people. There are so many people trying to impress others and feel special and/or superior once they see that they are very good in something. This is very wrong.

If all you focus on is how you would impress people, then you’re no longer engaging in your passion out of love.

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 2. You may not always be at your best

Always bear this in mind. Don’t put yourself in the ‘rat race’ of doing it smoothly and effortlessly all the time. There are times you would need to put in extra effort; times you would need to break the limit. There are times when even some things that seem so easy before begin to look difficult. However, you need to keep the fire burning. Have a heart open to learning.

That’s why if it’s indeed your passion, what should keep you on your toes should be the joy you get when doing it and the love you have for it. The primary reason why you engage in it shouldn’t be the results, positions, connections or influence that comes out of it but the love and joy you get out of it.

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If the real reason behind your passion is the love you have for it and the joy you get from it, then nothing else really matters. Yes, people would respect you as you get good at it, people would appreciate and most likely celebrate you but you shouldn’t always want to be praised.

3. Don’t think you’re invincible

What the feeling of invincibility does to you is that it makes you so afraid of failure that you will not want to try out new things. You get so convenient with the way you get praised that you would not want to try out something new. Probably because you do not want the ones who already see you as a genius or as the one who always get it right and never fail to see you as a ‘failure’.

For instance, an athlete that is already known for always coming first at the 100metre race may not want to try out 200metre or the Marathon race because they fear they might lose the race. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you shouldn’t have a terrain that you have mastered and where you function at your best. I am saying you shouldn’t box yourself up because you want to keep the praise you get.  

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One of the reasons why you may want to keep an open heart filled with only the joy and love towards your passion is so that you would have where to run to when challenges of life come your way.

For instance, in the story of the guy I shared earlier. Let’s consider something – with all that this guy had gone through – let’s assume he is a footballer and deep down in his heart, he only plays to impress and loves being praised. Then, when he got to his training, his coach said something like: ‘Hey, man! What’s wrong with your playing today? I would have you replaced if you don’t get yourself together. There are a lot of folks waiting to come on and give in their best which would be way more than you are giving’.

Now, in his head, he might begin to see himself as one who has lost his magic touch. Something in his mind would hate being corrected in the presence of the junior ones who he thinks are not even as good as he is.

Gradually, the pressure creeps in and overtakes him. He begins to feel like a failure. Before he knows it, the life circumstances he is going through creeps into his place of passion and he has nothing giving him joy at all; nowhere to run to.

But if that same man is someone who does it out of love and joy, he might not even attend the training in this place. He might prefer to train personally in his home since playing when no one is watching is the same as playing when 1000 people are watching. By doing this, he gets lost in the joy and love that he forgets about all that is going on around him and would even get a renewed energy to battle the challenges that surround him. Because in his head, he has at least conquered something and now feel he can conquer more.

So, don’t be overwhelmed by the challenges around you that it would rob you of the love and joy you get from that which you’re passionate about.

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Keep an open heart, be overwhelmed by the joy you get from doing it and the love you have for it. Don’t let life challenges rob you of the joy you get from that which you are passionate about. Don’t let challenges rob you of where to run to.

Life challenges will come and go. Hold on to that joy that flows in your passion and it will keep you refreshed.

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I hope you got something from this. Do leave a comment below and don’t forget to subscribe to this blog to not miss a post.