LEAVE THE ZOO AND RETURN TO THE DESERT

This world is full of people who are full of potential. People, majority of whom, despite being full of potential, have never had their full potential see the light of day. People who despite being trained in various disciplines, have never exercised their training maximally. People who have and are aware of their talents, but have not done much with the same talents. It is disturbing that despite harboring great potential within ourselves, we fail to showcase what we are capable of doing. A number of factors have led to this state of affairs and key among them is environment. We were created with potential that can best be brought out within a specific environment.
A story is told of a mother and baby camel who were lying around in a zoo when the baby camel began asking some questions to the mother. “Mother, why do camels have humps?” The mother, while looking confused by the unexpected question, decided to answer it nonetheless. “Well, son, we are desert animals, we need the humps to store water and we are known to survive without water.” The baby camel went on, “okay, then why are our legs long and our feet rounded?” The mother feigning composure went ahead to answer, “Son, obviously they are meant for walking in the desert. You know with these legs, I can move around the desert better than anyone does!”
The baby camel did not stop there, “okay, then why are our eye lashes long? Sometime it bothers my sight”. The mother now with pride said, “My son, those long and thick eye lashes are your protective cover. They help to protect your eyes from the desert sand and wind”. After thinking for a while, the baby camel went on, “I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the legs are for walking through the desert and these eye lashes protect our eyes from the desert; so what in God’s name are we doing in the zoo?”
Most of us are in the zoo with adaptation features for the desert. We are trying to play rugby when we have features that best place us as football players. We are struggling with an accounting career, yet our make-up is that of a teacher. We know it but we remain in the zoo. We are in a banking job with a training and passion for engineering. Our engineering humps and hooves are irrelevant in the bank; they need an engineering environment to thrive. We live as followers yet we have eye lashes for leaders, and we know it! We have found justifications and excuses for remaining in the zoo. We have said how we are making ends meet and how the system has been unfair by not helping us to exercise our respective potentials.
The disturbing bit about this whole scenario is the fact that we always know that we are in the zoo instead of the desert and vice versa. Your adaptation features for dwelling in the desert cannot make it easier for you to live in the zoo or in water. When you insist on staying in the zoo with features for another habitat, then you have to be prepared to struggle every other day of life. Stop calling yourself a teacher when you dwell in accounting or an engineer when you dwell in a banking zoo. Reevaluate yourself and check out your unique features; they are not accidental. If you believe that you have a hump, round feet and long eye lashes for dwelling in the leadership desert, then hastily plan to shift your environment to that which fits your natural adaptation.
Needless to say, it is easier to dwell in your natural habitat where your natural characteristics fit naturally. You struggle when you invade other people’s territories. A camel’s feet are meant for the desert and will definitely have a rough time in a muddy setting. What are your natural inclinations? Which is your desert that you are hesitating to revert to? Are you stuck in a zoo while well acknowledging that you are constructed for the desert? If you are not aware, it is a different story altogether; but where you are aware, like the mother camel was, then what in God’s name are you doing in a zoo? Recollect yourself, redefine yourself and begin matching towards where your adaptation features point you for YOU CAN DO BETTER!

Roy Okonji
Motivational Speaker and Author.