Me: I want to grind pepper.

The “Grinder”: Ok…go to that well, fetch water and wash it before I grind it for you.

Me: What the flying f**k?

You see!! This little episode transpired between me and a guy at the market. I’m sure many of us know that if you are grinding your tomatoes, pepper and onions in the market, that person has the responsibility of washing it and then grinding it but in this case, this guy asked me to fetch water and wash it myself and at the end of the day he would expect me to pay him the same amount I would pay another person. Ha!! Infact I almost went crazy..I quietly went to another stall and asked the guy if he would wash my veggies for me and he agreed. I went to the initial stall, packed up my veggies and went to this other guy and after he was done I payed him extra.

My point? These two guys woke up and probably said the same prayers before leaving their houses but whilst one would be thanking God for a successful business day, the other will be cursing under his breath and complaining. This is not because the one complaing is cursed but his attitude towards his business is very wrong.

Life is the way we make it; it can either be sweet or sour, good or bad, rosy or thorny. What’s your attitude towards life? One characteristic of living things is response to stimuli. How do you respond when life throws challenges and opportunities at you?

I remember a story my dad once told me about a woman who fried and sold groundnut and used the profits to put all her children through school(even up to the university level). So many other people must have been into the groundnut selling business at that same time yet achieved nothing significant(except a reputation for complaining about how poor their profit was). No magic or witchcraft was responsible for this. However, the only difference was their attitude. That woman was clearly determined to achieve something out of seemingly nothing.

Life throws challenges-sometimes a lot, sometimes little-at us but the way we react to these challenges is all that matters. Gold is never found on the surface, you have to dig deep to get it and honestly if you don’t prepare your mind, body and everything in you, if you don’t gird up your loins in preparation to respond to life positively, then you will never be able to make it in life. You’ll only end up complaining and complaining while others will be seizing opportunities and moving forward.

Till next time…. I urge you to choose to respond to life positively and remember, 

life isn’t happening to you, life is responding to you.