What Will People Say

What Will People Say

Making your dreams come true would most likely get you into the bad books of so many people!

In Nigeria, like most parts of Africa, kids are raised not just by the immediate family but also by the extended family, leading to children comparison and parents competition, hence the first fear most of us grew up with was the fear of “what will people say”. I remember back then, whenever I wanted to do something out of the usual, my mum would scream, “Eh! Don’t do it o, what will people say or do you want them to make fun of us?” This to a large extent acted as a braking system that helped curbed so many of my excesses but then it also limited the use of my creativity and my talent growth.

Recently, I made a new friend that I took it upon myself to push till she fully discovers herself, she is a bundle of potentials but she has practically grounded her creativity and personal growth because she is more afraid of what people will say or think than what will happen if she is not fulfilled. In fact, like many of us do, ‘she helps others think (mostly negative thoughts) what they are likely to think of her actions’. She automatically kills her own morale with thoughts that are unfounded. Like I said earlier, the fear of what people will is not all that bad especially, when it helps us to curb our excesses but it becomes very dangerous when it starts to limit our potentials. It is said that the greatest prison people live in, is the fear of what other people would think or say about them.

Making your dreams come true would most likely get you into the bad books of so many people; families, friends and even colleagues but if your desire is to break new grounds you wouldn’t really care what people will say. Have you ever stopped to imagine what people would have said when Obama said he wanted to run for US president or when Bill gate and Steve Jobs dropped out of college or when Col. Sanders at his old age opted to go into frying chicken or when Marshall Bruce Mathers III (Eminem) a white boy said he wanted to do rap songs (African American’s music) etc? I am sure tongues would have wagged with lots of negative comments, close allies would probably distance themselves, while family members would most likely have written them off.

Some years back, 1999 to be presice, I was still in Polytechnic (Ogun State Polytechnic) then, a sport seminar was organised by Sport Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Ogun State chapter and one of the speakers was Larry Izamoje. I remember when he mounted the stage and said the way forward for Sport journalism was to establish a sport radio and TV station, others who came on stage after him rather than focus on what other ways forward, they spent time on the stage talking about why a sport radio and TV station would not work. Today as you know, Dr. Lazzy Izamoje owns the first Sport radio station (Brilla FM opened in 2002) in Lagos Nigeria which has now spread to several states of the country. What if Larry was worried about what other journalists said that day, would he be where he is today?

You would have to decide whether to give in to “what people will say” or to pursue what you want to become with all you have got!

So what? After your masters degree you decide you want to become a make up artist or after your first degree you decided you want to explore music or you decide to resign from a lucrative job to start your own small business or you decide to become a fashion designer while still in school or you dropped out of school to learn a trade etc. Yes! People will talk, so many demoralizing utterances and dream killing words would be said but you would have to decide whether to give in to “what people will say” or to pursue what you want to become with all you have got.

People will talk, no matter what you do so give them something worthwhile to talk about and as the icing on the cake, excel and keep them wondering how you did it.