“I Am A Soldier” – Fear Non-Existent

Fear. If failure was a magician, fear would be his wand. For usually, only a swing of fear and a few accompanying words are enough to put us off. Ejecting any hope, self-belief or motive we may have had. “Wingardium leviosa” he’d murmur, as he whisked you off your goals and aspirations.

Infested into our defenceless minds with the sole purpose of formatting our goal drives, closing any open ambitions we had and then rebooting. Updating our thoughts, giving them a false face evident of a choice unblemished in it’s correctness.

Next time you’re confronted by the decision to give in to fear and let your dreams go undone, think of the decision as this: “Are you sure you want to permanently remove your dreams?”, I’m not sure how clear the answer is for you but personally, it’s HELL NO.

I keep telling of the story of how I ended up doing public speaking (haven’t for a while though). It was in third grade. A public speaking competition was coming up and one of the organising teachers came into our class, announced the usual extra-mural activity participants from our class, Gercia, Vinolia, Penna, Tinyiko, like I said, the usual. But then before she left she asked “Any volunteers?”.

The duel began. Ambition drew the first card, and fear countered. For every “Why I should” my ambition drew, fear had an even bigger seeming “Why I shouldn’t”. What was my answer to all fear had to say? HELL NO!.

Raised my hand, delivered my speech, came in second, and the war was won. I put aside any thoughts of doubt and forward any scrambles of self-belief I had. Mission accomplished, I walked off like a boss as my insecurities exploded behind me.

“Whenever fear is an opponent, aiming at destroying your will for achievement, strike it down and remind yourself that: I am a soldier, my fear is non-existent.” – Lehakwe Tloti

“Limits” – See, Be Then Beat Them

Yes, it is true. In our right minds we always try to do our best. We strive to prove to ourselves and to others that we are capable. That given a scope, we can fulfil every bit of it, and damn does it feel good.

“Just do your best” said my Matric Physics teacher, just before my end of the year exam. As comforting as those words are, I hoped that he would’ve said “Get yourself a hundred”, or that “I expect no incorrect answers”. But he didn’t, he spurred me to do my best, MY best.

A very vague word it is, best. And usually it is used to limit the chances of failure, because it is very easy to cheat yourself into thinking you did your best. But many fail to notice that the only thing they are limiting by trying to do their best is the actual magnitude, that is their best.

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, said “It always seems impossible until it’s done”. True? Absolutely. A record is only a record until it’s broken. After that it’s just another number.

Winner of the Oscar for best Actor in a leading role 2014, Matthew Mcconauhey said “There are three things to my account that I need, one is someone to look up to, another is someone to look forward to and another is someone to chase. . . . My hero, that’s who I chase. . . My hero is me in ten years”.

That’s the kind of outlook that one should have in life. There should be no destination to your journey to being your best. Your best is your next best try.

Limits are only limits until they are proven untrue, and your best is only your best until you do better.

“This is my best, is a phrase that can never be spoken. Because your capabilities are only defined by your next best effort” – Lehakwe Tloti

“A Big Small Circle” – Friends Worth Having

A big small circle. Not a very clever oxymoron until you understand what I imply by “big”. There’s a saying “Anything that counts, can’t be counted”, don’t know who said it but in this case, I totally disagree with it. I believe one should have friends that have meaning, and that spur you towards your dreams and aspirations, and mostly, to be so, they come in small numbers.

Still don’t get the use of “big”? You will now. A worthwhile friend should have a big influence on how you act, and a positive influence it should be. I’m a small circle type of a guy, meaning I prefer to have as few friends as possible. I haven’t been lucky enough to have them all share common interests and influencing me in a good way, but the ones that do, do it in a big way.

I’m a man of many different faces. And yes, I only just turned nineteen but ‘man’ seems more fitting for me. My most forward face, the one known by most, is my academic face. Hell I bet most of my senior year classmates would use the word ‘genius’ to describe me. But personally, I like one of my other faces more, my artistic face. The one I put on when I post these writes, and it is this face that I speak of on this write.

It’s a cool breath of fresh air, having friends as artistic and goal oriented as I am, maybe even more so. But to mention a few, Moe (Katleho), Yola (Loyola), and Floyd (Mzwandile) are friends I truly cherish, for their mere personalities and talents break words with mine in conversation ever so constructive. Moe, an independent, aspiring accountant with a passion for visual art, Loyola, a Novel writing future Health Inspector and Floyd a young videographer and also future accountant. All friends with me, a public speaking, creative writing future Chemist and Chemical Engineer. Guess I’m not the only one with multiple faces.

Success often comes in ways far unexpected. We strive towards it not completely sure whether the path we take leads to it or not. The people you should acquaint yourself with, however, are always an easy choice. Though not always as easy to find, friends who not only share your views but portray them as you do, are a definite ingredient to a fulfilling life.

We tend to be a spoon tip too overzealous when the finish line is in sight, forgetting that a marathon runner needs that occasional water bottle along the way, a friend. For it often takes that one word of approval from a trusted friend to reassure us that yes we are not alone.

Independence screams conqueror more than anything, but after the scream should follow a similar echo, a friend, a pillow to fall back on. Be your circle small or big, it’s influence should always be the latter.

“The journey to success is a grueling one, but with the right friends, you’ll have enough water bottles to see you to the finish line” – Lehakwe Tloti

Authorized Post By Lehakwe Tloti

“At Least” – False Comparisons

It’s amazing the lengths we go to in trying to convince ourselves of thoughts implying that we have done better than before or that we obtained what we deserved. And almost every time we would use two very unhelpful words, “at least”. Two words that lead us into finding comfort in the smallest of hope, be it moral or not.

I too have used these two words in the past, in trying to find reason to believe my lowest test mark wasn’t that bad. I know it sounds very immoral, but we have all said this to ourselves once:

“At least I did better than my friend, so I shouldn’t be too worried.”

Denial, the best reason as to why we often try to hide our failures behind those worse off than ourselves. It’s an easy way of overlooking the predicament we find ourselves in, and with being easy, comes some thing being wrong.

As stated by the write’s (post’s) title, at-least comparisons are false comparisons. They are comparisons between two people, you and the weakest link you can find, not so fair is it? Not only are they not fair,they are very misleading, and worst of all, it is you who are misleading yourself.

So take no part in useless self implicated mind games of at-least comparisons and accept whatever setbacks that may become.

“At least I’m better is nothing but an excuse for failure. Take it as it comes for then you’ll be proving that you really are better.” – Lehakwe Tloti

Authorized Post By Lehakwe Tloti