YOU vs. MEDIOCRITY

By Ene Adeka

Mediocrity is a region bound on the north by compromise on the south by indecision, on the east by past thinking, and on the west by a lack of vision. –John Mason, An Enemy Called Average

Hey pretty woman!

If you have never looked at the posh and pristine  girl, mother or classy lady next door and wondered why in the blazing  harmattan your life seems to be so out of place when you stand beside her, you must be one of those few “Touch Nots” life has consecrated to itself. You’re also a liar my dear…lioness, that’s who you are.

Yeah…raise the roof, tie the scarf round your waist, tap the legs while you clap your hands like the real African woman that you are and find a chair so we can have us some girl talk. We all have at some point given people the impression that we have got our life together while we know that if truth be told, it’s messier than life on the streets of Lagos. However, there is always room for self-improvement and personal development, especially if you’re taking this article personal.

A day in the life of you

“The quality or state of being average or ordinary,” is called mediocrity says www.vocabulary.com. If your life were to be a house or a restaurant, can we comfortably visit or sit in it without putting ourselves in harm’s way? Are you sure we won’t arrive as sane men and leave as mad men? Your life is not falling apart, and no witch put the hex on you, mediocrity is what is wrong with you!

Your relationship with everyone is gradually headed for the rocks but you give excuses and adapt.

You are getting overweight. But you justify and adapt.

You are losing customers because your company culture is lousy and far from the excellence you advertise on social media. But you would rather blame your “village people.”

You have body odour, you know what items to buy to curb it but you’d rather suffocate everyone around you than risk spending a kobo to smell nice. Haba! You want to adapt to body odour too?

Mediocrity will take you somewhere and it’s called nowhere

What if I told you that although  there are no thermometers or stethoscopes to check how much of mediocrity you have inside your mind , if you let me into your mind I can find the bug that has been responsible for the bouts of depression,  mood swings, envy, malice, bitterness and strife.

Yes sweetheart!

I can see you nodding your head. You know you cannot keep getting angry at any and everybody forever. The world has got seven billion people and unless you intend to die young you are going to meet so many young and amazing people whose results and achievements would rudely and unashamedly remind you of the mediocrity that tags along like a shadow and shows up uninvited in everything you do. You need to change the narrative.

What should I do? This is my life you just described.

Sweetheart, that’s why we are here, draw near so I can tell you that you are not a product of a cosmic accident. Mba! You did not evolve from some reed tossed to and fro by the wind. Darling, you were intentionally created and sculpted from the finest of materials by the creator Himself. I almost said “Jesus!”  Who called you an accident?  Heaven lives in you baby girl.

Let’s start with your ASSOCIATIONS!

You are paradise embodied and any man born of a woman who tells or makes you feel otherwise should be kicked out. Yes honey, I mean pick the phone up and send them that quit notice they deserve.  In this business, you need your self-esteem intact. This week, we are going to clean up house.

You see that boy that has turned you into a punching bag? We are going to send him packing or to jail. You choose, while we go about accusing him of domestic violence if he as much as breathes around you.

And that bff that has nothing but gossip to bring to the table, we are going to summon up the courage to tell her our time is valuable and we are striving for significance. If you can’t gossip purpose, value, excellence or creativity, then by all means sit all by yourself and meditate on the empty wallet you still have despite the full-time gossip job you have.

What about that smart phone you always have your head and mind buried in? You surely don’t want to end up a stupid smart phone user do you?

Curve honey! Instead of Facebook, try reading some e-books or nice articles on self-discovery or becoming valuable.

Next week, I am going to come your way with the next thing you need to review if you are to exit this life of mediocrity you have carved out for yourself.

Until then, go clean up your closet and bury those skeletons. Hit me up in the comment box and…

Faya on!

Photography by @Osahon