Make the Circle Bigger
Imagine if someone gave you your favourite thing (in my case chocolate) all in one go. I mean ALL of it! All that you could ever hope to consume in your life time. Just imagine.
How would you feel?
My initial thought would be “awesome”, but in reality it would quickly be replaced with feeling overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the chocolate mound (P.S. there would be a time limit to how long you have to eat it). Then I would probably then get very anxious about where I would even start, and of course how ill I would get!
And this is why God, the universe (depending on your belief) created serving sized packets.
When we are born our life is essentially arranged in serving packets. Bite-sized chunks. It is arranged in a way we can handle.
When a baby is born, all he/she has to worry about is learning to control their limbs, then they advance to crawling, walking and talking.
Remember when you were little, say 4 or 5, and the boy in your class didn’t pay for the imaginary groceries when you were playing “supermarket”? Remember your shock and horror? Remember how you cried to your teacher or parent because not having enough imaginary money in your toy register meant the absolute end of your world?!!
Oh, and remember when you were in grade 7 and the popular girl in class didn’t invite you to her birthday slumber party? Remember how you moped that weekend and your world crumbled, and you swore you’d never show your face at school again?!
But look at you at you now? You’re still alive and thriving. And the earth did not shift right off its access.
Back then, these events were your world. They were huge!
That is how life works.
It is presented to us in these chunks. It widens and expands with time. At that moment when we’re in a particular phase, we do tend to believe “That’s it”!
I can say with 100% certainty, IT IS NOT.
So as you prepare for the rest of your high school career or prepare to exit matric, know this:
- It is important to know that the circle does get bigger, high school and particularly matric are not the end all and be all
- High school and matric are a component, a chunk of life. They are not THE ONLY component
- If at the end of the day you know you’ve done your best and know you have done better than yesterday, then it’s ok
- If the day, the test or the exam did not go well, that too is ok
- The world is full of information and knowledge and a bazillion paths you can take. If one doesn’t work out, that is ok
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~ Thomas A Edison
That is how you make the circle bigger!!
By: Zuko Nkumanda
