Destiny

I believe in destiny, just like I believe in life. In fact, I believe destiny is like life itself. It's simply whatever you make of it.

image: stfuandplay.com

If you want it handed to you. No input from you beyond hoping and wishing; like life you'll have a pretty average destiny. But if you go all out for it, if you go after an awesome destiny, if you don't just wait for whatever comes, if you take your existence on earth really serious and personal, if you take full responsibility for your happiness, if you look beyond the average, if you dream big, if you aim for the stars, if you go after the impossible, if you break free from all mental limitations, if you follow your heart, if you stick your head above the noise around you, if you try to create your desired future, if you see yourself as God's active partner in shaping the future, if you believe in yourself, if you desire to change the world, if you desire a better world for your children, if you aim to live above excuses, if you aim to be like the heroes you read about, if you understand that the world owes you nothing, if you believe in hard work, if you believe in merited success, if you believe in earned greatness, if you believe nothing is impossible, if you recognize the huge responsibility mankind has, if you see what you can become, if you understand the immense gifts that lie within you, if you stretch yourself a little, if you step outside your comfort zone, if you chart your own course, if you keep testing your own sails, if you seek beyond the immediate, if you believe in the creativity God has endowed you, if you believe life's value is more in quality than quantity of years, if you want to push the human race forward, if you want to be the best you can be, if you want to rise above the average, if you let go of your limiting beliefs, if you let go of self comparison, if you let go of unsound traditions, if you think for yourself, if you go after a great life: chances are you will end up with a great destiny. Because no one sleeps his way to a great destiny. Nature is not a lottery machine. It doesn't just spin things your way, especially great things; it gives you what you work for. Not what you need but what you deserve. What you worked and sweat for.

Your destiny is simply what you become in the end. Just as no one has ever come back from the dead to fulfill his destiny, and we all have potential for greatness, yet not all the people that have died since beginning of the world lived a great life. Then it's either destiny is not set in stone or it's not made good for everyone. Since I'll never know which the case is, I choose to believe that it is not set in stone. Fixed for everyone of us before our birth and that whatever choices we make in life we are no more than victims of our own destinies. I believe that man -- that I, that anyone, that everyone -- can live a great life, can have a great destiny. That it's not the destiny of Nigerians to have the current life we live in Nigeria. That it's not the destiny of the over 200 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram to be kidnapped. That it is not the destiny of anyone to die in poverty.

I believe that destiny is what we make of it, by our individual actions and community actions. By the good we do and the evil we breed. By the choice of leaders we make, by the friends we keep, by the thoughts we have, by the beliefs we hold on to and by the lives we live. We are not victims of a life decided for us long before we were born and of which we cannot alter. We are the very pen that writes our destiny.