NO MORE EXCUSES: Every Excuse is Valid, Until Failure Comes Knocking
Life on Earth is quite complex. We all have painful moments in our lives. In the same way, we all have joyful moments. But how we deal with our joyful moments or painful moments does tell a lot about how we have matured and how much we are prepared to deal with our unknown tomorrow.
There is an African proverb that says “You don’t make water your enemy because someone you know drowned in a river.”
And this is very true for our everyday lives. We don’t make enemies of life simply because what we expected of our lives didn’t quite manifest as we intended.
Life is already as complicated as it can get, especially with all the various changes on the planet and the myriad of challenges we face daily. One may just want to sit and watch life roll by.
I am well aware that the streets are very brutal and unkind and sometimes it just makes sense to walk away from life through self-isolation, addiction, or a literal “walk away from life.” However, the reality is, that it makes sense at the moment to do a thing does not make it what is required to respond to what life throws at us. There will always be options available.
You are your best competitor
I have listened to the great Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt say he practices for four years to run and win a nine-second race. Nothing else beats my imagination than his statement.
Meaning that for four years, he would practice and train where no one was watching him so he could come and run for nine seconds in the presence of millions of people. That means if there was a time for him to give an excuse or excuses, it would be within those four years of training when no one was around to watch and condemn his excuses.
But this is the reality of our lives on earth. Things don’t always go the way we plan them to and most times it will take an extra push coupled with a big dose of determination and discipline to rise or get through.
But one scary part of excuse-making is that every excuse is valid. At least until failure comes knocking. There is practically no excuse that is not valid from the point of view of the one giving the excuse.
So, while it makes sense for the person making the excuse to make one, it might not necessarily be what is needed for their growth and the growth of the community. Life is much more than what works for us as individuals but also what works for the community in which we belong.
Over the years as an author and writer of hundreds of articles, I have come to understand that the greatest competitors we face in our quest to manifest our true self, is ourselves. No bigger competitor than that voice on the inside that says you can’t do it. Interestingly enough, just like a tree with a double purpose, it’s the other side of that same voice that cheers you on when no one else is there to say keep going. The difference will be which of the voices you have been feeding with the food of your determination and discipline.
As a co-publisher and writer on this magazine, there are days when the only thing that makes sense is to fold up the magazine publication and just call it quits. It’s a free magazine for the public but publishing it monthly is neither cheap, free, nor without difficulties. So, in those moments of “should I stop” or “should I continue”, the one thing that keeps me going is the fact that someone out there, even if it’s one person, sees value in the magazine and they want it to continue.
Your story might be different and your experience different, as it should be, but we all have the same enemy — EXCUSES.
The Exes in Our Lives
We all have exes that left our lives at one point or the other. To some, their exes are the wives or husbands that walked away leaving them all alone and vulnerable. But to some, their ex is their former jobs, failed investments, broken families, former successes, and various achievements that have become excuses for not moving forward.
So, I see excuses as “exes that life uses” to hold us in a place while we are supposed to move forward. “Ex” “used” is a play on words as my own way of giving clarity to the issue of excuses.
Most times, what we fear and for which we create excuses are not the great unknown but the things we already know and experienced but which we didn’t handle properly. Then we fall into the trap of blame games. So, instead of learning from the experience, something in our minds tells us that the experience has a moral right to hold us from moving forward. But this is a lie and will never be true.
Breaking the chain of excuses
I do not think there is any magical word or wand for resolving the issue of excuses other than determination and discipline. If you have a magic wand for dealing with excuses, please share it in the comments section.
My point is that there will never be a way to overcome excuses, other than to remember the reason you started the venture in the first place, coupled with the unbending determination to see that venture through, even when everything else says no.
In conclusion, remember this, many business plans never become businesses because the owner or owners allowed whatever form of excuses to get in the way. It’s the same with many talents and skills that never get to see the light of day because the bearers of those skills and talents allowed excuses to shut them out.
Great things are not built on the premise of excuses but on the promise of self-determination, focus, boldness, discipline, vision, and purpose.
As you step into the “unknowns” of 2025, look your excuses in the face, see them for what they are, and then choose to embrace discipline and self-determination to exceed your own expectations.
Welcome to the year 2025.
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