RUN YOUR OWN RACE

Unlike soccer which is a team sport, athletics is centered on individual brilliance. Success in this sport is grounded on one’s capability to outshine competitors and smash records in the process. Legendary sprinters like Usain Bolt, Karl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Michael Johnson, Tyson Gay, Maurice Greene, and Asafa Powell among others are famed for the prowess they exhibited on the track.

However, life is a different ball game. Where athletics mainly requires individual brilliance to succeed, one of the ingredients of successful life lies in loving and cooperating with other people.

Writing in the book Things fall apart, renowned Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe said:

“When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. [...] But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice.”

This quote is a reflection of how individuals have disregarded the concept of working together, embracing a more self-centered approach to competing against each other.

The vice of pride is man’s greatest undoing. The need to be seen as a superior being, leading a life better than others is a challenge bedeviling today’s society. So many times we have used exorbitant means, we have gone out of our way and we have compromised our principles just so we prove that we can do it too. The validation and social status we believe we need will continue to cripple us for as long as we use them as our source of motivation.

Weddings, birthday parties, bridal showers, baby gender reveal parties, baby showers, you name it, have become trends responsible for so many debts hanging over our heads. We will show up and celebrate with you either way but you will only be satisfied if you fulfill your dreams and do things your way.

The greatest success is being able to come out of every situation the best version of yourself even if it does not guarantee the most prestigious seat at any table. Race against every force trying to pull you away from the best version of yourself. At the end of the day, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.” When you are gone, we will always remember you by the reputation you built.

I believe that success is relative and it will always be defined differently. It is what you say it is. It is only you who truly knows what you want and what you are honestly capable of achieving. The rest of us are just there to cheer you on. While others are celebrating buying mansions, others are celebrating moving out into a one-roomed house. That is the reality of life. Whatever your definition is, make sure your dignity is untouched in the process.

The story of Iván Fernández Anaya, a Spanish athlete challenges me. Ivan refused to win the medal by capitalizing on Abel Mutai’s mistake. 10 meters before the finishing line, Abel stopped running, thinking he had crossed the finish line.

It was a genuine mistake that was going to cost him the championship. When Ivan caught up with Abel he stayed behind and cheered Abel to finish the race and claim the gold medal. When Ivan was asked why he did that, he said,

“Abel was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn't have closed if he hadn't made a mistake. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn't going to pass him.”

He went on to say, “I also think that I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well.”

Life is not about winning against the next person but perfecting your life so that you can be the best version of yourself and also work towards making an impression in the lives of those around you!

I want to be remembered as the woman who honestly earned all her accolades, the woman who celebrated every milestone, the woman who defined success in her own way, the woman who did not compromise her principles, the woman who was a blessing to those around her and the woman who ran her own race.