I am so sorry. I have been away for quite a while now, for reasons unavoidable actually, but i know i should not have gone radio silence without at least informing my wonderful reader(s).I am so sorry. Please forgive me.
As from this moment, Living your dreams is back, with even better features and packages. Stay glued. If you have un-bookmarked us, please re-bookmark us. And dont forget to invite others.
Shalom
The second week of June met me on the tracks. I planned to enroll in a gym class, preferably one close to my neighborhood, but I was still making consultations on the best facility. So in the meantime, I committed myself to 45 minutes of jogging per-day.
One very important lesson I learned that morning is to always respect our guys in green. Ninty-something minutes running around the green track aint no child’s play.. When I got home after the first day, aside the fact that I couldn’t go for more than 20 minutes, my back and legs ached like hell. I almost didn’t leave the house the entire day.
What? “Twenty measly minutes on the track and you end up this messed up?” I shot at the guy staring back at me in the mirror, but he could not give me any reply as the bones that held his mouth and mind together were worn out by . After that morning, I knew I was in some real shit if I really wanted those abs I had fantasized about.
It’s been five days, and my body was getting used to this new drill, or maybe it’s my mind. It still took a lot of convincing to get my lazy ass off the bed when the 5:30am alarm rings.
I’d been on for 30 minutes, my stomach hurt like hell, lungs were bustling with fire, I could barely move my legs, but I kept on, I kept running.
I kept running, not because it was easy, nor because I had the strength in abundance. I wasn’t even sure I’d pull through the forty-five minutes.
I kept running because I had to. I kept running because I hadn’t hit my mark. I kept running even though it hurt like hell, not because I enjoyed the pain, but because I knew there was gain after this seemingly unending pain.
As if on a late-working steroid, an invisible dosage of adrenaline surged through my body giving me strength to finish.
I finished my forty-five minutes mark, and even managed to add a couple more minutes.
Writing this alone, I remember vividly how tough it was. I had two choices. To continue. Or to give up. But I chose the former.
This story applies to real life. In many cases, life presents us with to options. To take the easy way out, to bow out, and avoid failing and the disgrace that comes with. The second is to hold on. To fight on, to keep pushing, and risk failing.
What is life and aspiration without a little risk? I ask you? What meaningful result comes without a little sacrifice? Who dares to make greatness without paying the price of sheer hard work? I tell you, none.
So, when next you feel like giving up, like bowing out, because the whole thing seems too hard, because it’s becoming too tasking, because you think it shouldn’t be that hard , remember this, ‘there is no sweet without sweat.’ ‘There certainly is no reward without the sacrifice of hard work.’ ‘There is no gain, without pain.’
“If size mattered, the elephant would be king of the jungle.” – Rickson Gracie –
One golden rule of life, is to understand that size never matters in accomplishing ones dreams. The lion is a good case study here. There are many other bigger animals in the jungle, but the lion, not because of its size, but because of its understanding of its strength, rules the jungle.
There are certainly going to the others who are better than you in your chosen career, but your understanding of your own strength, or strong point, as the case may be, will shoot you into the stars and make you the lion of your jungle.
No pain. No gain. I didn’t really know the true meaning of this statement, or in this case, its implication, until the last few weeks.
I’d been told by my health consultant, who also dubbed as my mentor, after series of general body tests, to steer clear of fatty and oily foods. ordinary, I am not fat, at-least I don’t look fat. I don’t know if there is any difference between the two. Fact is, I am not fat. I have no extra flesh or padding. So, I didn’t take his advice serious. But subsequent health issues and tests further revealed that I needed to burn some fats.
Understand this, I am not the sickly type. I don’t even remember when last I was down with malaria. I just do these tests as a routine, maybe because the gears are always available.
“Victor, you need to reduce those fatty foods”. he’d say.
“But bros, look me now, i no fat now”. I’d say in defense.
“This test shows that you have a lot of extra fat in your system. you need to take it easy with those eggs”. he”d reiterate
and so the conversation would continue until he leaves.
truth be said, i eat a lot of fat. and i enjoy it too.from oils to eggs to margarine. i enjoy fat so much that i often request for the fatty pieces of meat be kept for me. Now I’ve heard a lot of stories about people dying as a result of overweight and obesity, some committing suicide because nobody would be their friend. there is fatty heart, stroke and other what nots. I sure as heck wasn’t about to add to the list.
And so, I took counsel with myself. how am I going to stay healthy and live longer. reduce those fats. that was my first thought. well, not really my first thought, I’d been advised severally. now this would have been an easy decision for some, It was a hard one for me. I love my fats, but I also love my life. for me many days, i was lost in the confusion of my own thoughts.
And then dang. like a flash of lightening, it hit me. hit the gym. damn. why didn’t I think of this earlier.
This would be a win win win situation for me. First, I get to stay healthy. Secondly I keep enjoying my fats and lastly, the much sought abs. also known as “six packs’.
For many days i continued fantasying about how am gonna drive them girls crazy. the eyes that wouldn’t go off me whenever I put on my fitted vests and t-shirts. am gonna make them go all curly in the feet. I even imagined myself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Iyanya, Flavour and P-square, or in this case, flaunting abs. Only if I knew what awaits me in my quest.
LYD – Living Your Dreams is officially launched, and I want to use this opportunity to welcome you to the blog.
It’s going to be an interesting and equally fun ride from here onward.
On this blog, you’ll be finding a lot of materials, write-ups, stories, excerpts, diaries, and also biographies of renowned leaders, great men and woman, stories from other amazing and equally talented writers/bloggers. Basically anything that fires you up and encourage you to live your dream.
The objective is to have a society where people, despite all odds and challenges are determined to pursue their ambitions and visions, thus becoming great men and women, because therein lies our purpose and reason of existence. We call it our own little contribution to mankind.
Welcome once again, we do hope you come back again!
For suggestions, you can email me @ ashonibarevik@gmail.com
LYD - Living Your Dreams 