Wisdom From The Internet #2 — April ‘22 [TMP #17]
Landing pad
Happy new month!
It was April 1 the day before, and of course, the second release of the monthly series Wisdom From The Internet! (Check out the March edition.)
Wisdom From The Internet is a monthly collation of quotes, poems, essays, lyrics and other tidbits of wisdom to set the pace and accomplish meaningful things for the month.
All highlights reside on the internet, hence, the name Wisdom From The Internet. Okay, let’s go 🚀
At a glance:
Ask to receive
To not remain a victim
Desires vs Discipline
Loving is everything
Ask to receive
‘Closed mouths don’t get fed.’
You get what you ask for not what you deserve.
This is true for the very important to the pretty mundane. No matter how much you think you deserve it, if you don’t ask for it you wouldn’t get it. Deep this: if you’re hungry and stay with the pangs, you’ll stay hungry, forget you’re hungry and resume the hunger. So far as you don’t ask for food, you’d remain hungry. If you would like a raise and keep waiting for your boss to acknowledge your efforts first, you might keep waiting.
In Alexander Hamilton’s words, ‘don’t throw away your shot.’. You get some of all you ask for (because this is real life and not everyone cares about your desires like you) but you certainly get none of all you don’t ask for.
I’ve lived this so I know it to be true. I wanted an internship, so I asked around for placements. I didn’t get promising responses — some my fault and some just not opportunity — but I kept asking till I, very fortunately, got one (and I was not expecting it). While other factors contributed to me securing a placement, the starting line was that I asked. On the other hand, I’d discovered that dancing was my passion, and so, as a rational human being, I asked my dad to send me to a dance school after secondary school, not a university because ‘invest in desired prospects’. I asked and I got banned from dancing in the house.
The point is: ask. How would we know what to give you if you don’t let us know what to give you?
Do you want more money? Ask
Do you need a vacation? Ask
Do you need to talk to someone? Ask
Do you need a favour? Ask
You get some of all you ask for but you get none of all you don’t ask for.
To not remain a victim
‘You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.’
— Maya Angelou in Letter to My Daughter
I watched a YouTube video about the book The Courage To Be Disliked and I came across a line of thought that says trauma is not real. While I don’t agree with that (I haven’t read the book yet so I can’t conclusively disagree), the author goes further to explain that trauma is not real because we have the power to not allow past experiences define ourselves or future experiences.
Unpleasant things happen, and as is often, wishing you were not a victim fuels misery. The only way to progress is to make an effort to change things. Nothing is likely to change if you don’t do anything about it.
Desires vs Discipline
‘Desires don’t determine what you become,
Discipline determines what you become.’
— Craig Groeschel
The rich and the poor have one thing in common: they both want to be rich. The excellent student and the poor student have one thing in common: they both want to pass. But only one is rich and only one is excellent. No matter how it sounds, only one does the work- the right work. To get something, anything, we have to do the work required. No amount of well-meaning passion can ever replace the work you have to do.
Loving is everything
A conversation between a mother and a daughter:
Mother: ‘You are very kind and very intelligent and those elements are not always found together. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethure, and my mother — yes, you belong in that category….’
Daughter: ‘Imagine, I might really become somebody. Someday.’
— Maya Angelou in Letter To My Daughter (of course, Dr. Angelou was the daughter in the conversation.)
To give an act of love to someone else is to make someone’s moment if not life. To smile at a person, to offer an act of kindness, to give hope, to offer strength, to encourage someone, to give a gift, to give a heartfelt compliment, to make time to see a friend, to make a call, to send a text, to pray for a dear one, to offer a helping hand, to listen to a friend.
You not only give a core memory but you get to make someone live a moment of joy and hope.
Be a giver this month :)
Conclusion
Every day this month is a new opportunity to speak up, choose to not remain a victim, do the work required and make someone else’s world.
What will you do this month?
With all my love,
Dayo
P.S: Go add ‘Letter To My Daughter’ to your reading list this month, it’s really good :)