Looking at other people’s success and how they are moving towards their goals at a rate faster than yours will come as a form of motivation, but at a certain level, it can push you down even further.
The day I conquered the Wits Edge, beating the lion with the widest smile on my face surrounded by the herd. Photo: File
Five, four, three, two, one… Lift off! Do you ever picture yourself sitting inside a spaceship headed to the moon? Your blood rushing through your veins as you take off – the blistering sound as the engine heating up and you bolt into space? Sounds great doesn’t it?
Now imagine yourself as an antelope that has just spotted a lion headed in your direction and having no choice but to run for your life! Your heart is beating at abnormal speed, adrenaline pumping, and the only thing you can do is run to save yourself. Now, surely you’d dream of being the scientist rocketing into space because he has more chances of seeing another day than spotted prey.
In one way or another, we all find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to do and our abilities are overwhelmed by all the questions presented in our sub-conscious mind. I am often the antelope in my life, going through every situation, questioning myself and my capabilities to do “the right thing”, or what is expected of me.
I am a young bird finally leaving the nest, soaring high into the sky. I am flying into a new world, filled with brand new opportunities and just as many challenges.
This has been my life recently. Moving out of home came as an amazing opportunity as I had been commuting from the East Rand to Wits University every day since my second year of study.
This new opportunity came along, and the only thing I could do was to put new pressures on myself. Allowing my mind to run wild in deep thoughts of failure and disappointment – disappointing everyone looking at me to succeed and everyone rooting for me.
I have certainly changed my emotional course very quickly. From a beautiful song bird to the antelope filled with fear and anxiety. Often wondering if I could swop places with the pilot. Who am I? Where am I going? How did my route change this quickly and how am I in this position, a situation of life and failure with the vicious lion that is anxiety?
An antelope makes mistakes as it runs away from the lion. This is how it gets caught. But the wise antelope knows not to stray away from the herd to avoid such situations. I have noticed that like all situations, asking for help is the best way.
Do you ever just stop to think and wonder how many obstacles and challenges you’ve had to overcome throughout your entire life and how you always made it through? Do you ever think of how the good always overcomes the bad and how we as human beings are in control of how we react to different situations?
Looking at other people’s success and how they are moving towards their goals at a rate faster than yours will come as a form of motivation, but at a certain level, it can push you down even further.
I have stopped observing the astronaut and I ran as fast as I could. A cloud of dust around my feet as I got back to the herd, panting from the tough run.
The dust will settle for I have stopped looking at the astronaut, because even he, God forbid, may not make it back from the moon.
Anxiety is the outcome of self-doubt and negative thinking, we never stop to think about how capable we are and how the mere thought of positivity and overcoming this vicious lion can actually get us through any situation we find ourselves in.
FEATURED IMAGE: Lineo Leteba. Photo: File
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