DON'T GIVE UP by Afolayan Philips

There is this image that shows a man struggling towards a treasure. After striving for a long time he quitted, unaware that he was almost there.  Am I the only one who feels somehow seeing this man give up when he was so close to his goal? I'm sure I'm not the only one. If only he could see the wonderful treasure that lies just a little out of his reach. Though we can't really blame him for giving up. Perhaps he thought the treasure isn't there and felt all his efforts are wasted. Who knows how long he has been trying? Who knows how much he sacrificed?
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Whenever things get really hard and I feel like giving up, I remember this image. And I'm like 'I don't know how close I am to achieving my goals'.  'What if it needs just  a tiny more effort.' 'What if I'm almost there? 'What if this is the writeup that'll bring me to the attention of a sponsor for my unpublished books? Then with God's help I endeavour to give it all the effort I can muster no matter how difficult it is... And I stick to the path, sacrificing a lot in the process. That's the reason it's called 'passion'.
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Each one of us has been in this situation numerous times, most times we are unaware of what we lost and when we do, we feel like scolding ourselves. That's because we know we could have tried a little harder.
How I wish we could know how close we are to making it? How close we are to fulfilling our purpose? But I guess we can't always have all we want.. If wishes were horses, beggars would rise. So let's just live for the moment, learn from the past and plan for the future.
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At times though, we allow ourselves to be used to discourage others by the uncaring words we say, the insensitive attitude we portray, the reluctance to encourage and support others. We know the value of what someone is doing but we do not bother to appreciate them pretty let them know their efforts are not worthless. Do you know if your little patience, care, love and compassion is all someone else needs to rekindle his/her faith and determination. Then when such person gives up we're like 'I've always known that he/she couldn't do it'. Smh,  who are you to judge or determine someone's capability if you never made attempt to encourage them when they were still trying.
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Life's too good to worry about things that do not matter. Or to let people that do not value us have so much influence on our feelings and emotions. Learn to  stand strong alone even if no one else believes in you Happiness is everywhere.. Beauty is everywhere. If only we could calm down to see it. And if you can't find happiness, then create it.  Make someone's day, put a smile on someone's face. Then you'll find true happiness yourself after realizing that you are a valuable treasure.
As long as you keep trying you're not a failure.
May the good Lord reward our efforts with success.

AFOLAYAN PHILIPS (VENUS)