O. P. P. O. T. U. N. I. T. Y

Can you count how many times you have prayed to God for an opportunity?

I bet you can’t!

Thomas Edison said that opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

This is so true!

Early last month, a very good friend, Ufedo, tagged me to a post on facebook. The post was a writing opportunity for Nigerian writers to join an international army of writers to earn by developing and creating ORIGINAL content through extensive research. The post also stated that interested writers should send a private message and only five writers were going to be selected after a screening process.

I sent a casual message and three days after, I received a message with a whole lot of instructions. It was a test to screen the writing skills of those who showed interest in the opportunity. We had only three days to work and a deadline to meet.

At that point, I gave up! Reading the instructions alone gave me a headache. Nevertheless, I tried. I pushed myself to give it a shot but it was like all my efforts were hitting against a brickwall.

It seemed the odds were against me because the next day, I fell ill. Not just that, my baby fell ill too! I had to nurse my baby and in between find a way to rest my aching body. The last thing on my mind was passing a test for a writing opportunity. I made up my mind to decline the opportunity. I cannor come and kee myself!

“I’m very sure this opportunity is not meant for me.” I told myself with all assurance “My own will come.”

As I lay my weary head down to sleep and forget about the opportunity, I quickly remembered that I had written “to be intentional about writing and earn from it” as one of my goals for this year. I brushed the thought aside, but it kept coming and every other time it came, it was stronger. I could not sleep anymore.

“Tedious writing that requires lots of research is not my thing. I think I need a writing opportunity that requires me to write short stories and stuff like that.” I made an excuse.

At that time, I was engaged in a writing challenge in Ijeoma TDaniel’s facebook group “Online Writers for Profit” and I felt I should talk with her about how I felt. I took my phone and asked her if a writer should be able to say “this is my niche” or must be able to do anything called writing.

Her answer was blunt, clear and unequivocal “a writer should be able to do anything ‘writing’”!

“Now you have no excuse.” a voice whispered in my ears.

I braced myself and started researching. The more I researched, the more I wrote and the more I wrote, the more I realized that I actually enjoyed it! It reminded me of my love for writing lesson notes.

In the twinkle of an eye, I completed my research, penned down my thoughts, typed and sent.

Two days ago, I received a message that l was the only Nigerian applicant that passed the screening exercise. Out of the dozens of people that showed interest in the writing opportunity and were contacted, only six people submitted an article before the deadline. Furthermore, all articles submitted were screened for plagiarism and my article passed the plagiarism test meaning it was original.

I was so excited. At a point I stopped to ask myself “What if you did not push yourself and make an effort? What if you gave up?”

So, what did I learn?

* No matter what, be your ORIGINAL self.

* Enjoy the process. Yes, you are not where you want to be but you are on your way threre. Even if this is not the thing, this thing will eventually lead to the thing.

* Surround yourself with positive people. People who will tell you the blatant truth even if it hurts.

* Too many excuses can never build a tower. You have to get up and make an effort.

* Don’t give up, pull through! It’s better to say “I made it despite all odds” than to say “the odds were against me so I couldn’t make it.”

* Never say “I don’t” until you do! Don’t give up before you start.

* A lot of times, the opportuny we are praying for is very close to us- right in front of our very eyes- but we cannot see it because we are complaining and calling it hard work.

Do you give up before trying?
Do you make excuses not to try?
Do you see opportunities or hard work?

©Zizywrites