WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

The other day, I ran into an old acquaintance on the streets of our capital. We were both surprised at how each of us had changed in terms of physical growth – it has been long since we last saw each other. After exchanging the usual pleasantries associated with such reunions, I found myself asking one of those questions you ask when you run short of things to discuss. I asked, “So where are you going?” In his eyes, I could see the difficulty he had in answering what I thought was a straight forward question. In the end, he managed to get his jaws open and he gave me an answer, an honest one. He said, “I don’t know, I’m just strolling.”
We did the usual parting ceremonials and we went our respective separate ways. Today, my mind replayed that encounter and I got myself into reflection mode. I began wondering, ‘’could it be that many of the people on our streets have no idea where they are going?’’ I unavoidably, as usual, found myself comparing this incidence to contemporary life. Today, most people do not know where they are going; most people will have difficulties answering the question, ‘Where are you going?’
I have observed that most of us are yet to put direction to our lives. We do things for the sake of doing them or because we found other people doing them. We do not know how far we want to go with the things we do. Could it be that we wake up every morning going to work yet we have no clue where we are going with the same work? Could it be that we got married because society expects us to be married and we do not know where we are going in our marriages? Could it be that we are studying courses whose destination with our lives we do not know? Where exactly are you going in everything that you do?
The danger of walking through life aimlessly is that you find it difficult to tell when to stop walking, when to start running or when you have arrived. It is practically impossible to arrive at a destination you know nothing about, a destination that you never planned for. You can only deem yourself to have arrived somewhere if this somewhere was in your mind at the time of beginning the journey. Most of us run our lives on auto-pilot mode. We let nature take its course and in most cases, to our detriment.
In the fullness of time, we realize that we have got very little to write home about especially in the achievements we have gotten in our various life spheres. The importance of having direction in life cannot be over emphasized. We all need to have some definite goals and plans in life, they make running of the business of life easier and meaningful. They make it easier for you to take stock of where you are against where you ought to be. Knowing where you are going makes it possible for you to become accountable to your own self.
Knowing where you are going will also help you manage your time appropriately; it will always help you know when to increase your pace or reduce accordingly. It is now time for each one of us to ask and give ourselves an answer to the question, “where are we going?” better put, “where am I going?” I challenge you today to pose this question to each and every of your life sectors. Where you have difficulties answering the question; there lies an opportunity for you to go back to the drawing board and redefine the direction of your actions. Avoid living any aspect of your life without knowing where you expect to get with it. Greatness lies within you, only if you define where you are going; because YOU CAN DO BETTER!

Roy Okonji
Motivational Speaker and Author