Se Bi Oti Mo

Se Bi Oti Mo

“Se Bi Oti Mo elawa Sapon” is an expression in Yoruba that suggests that you should live within your means or cut your coat according to your cloth.

The urge to aspire is a very good one, in fact it is one of the admirable traits of success but there is a difference between aspiring and living outside one’s means.

A student from a struggling home got to University and made friends with party-loving girls and boys from wealthy homes. The student became pressured to wear designers, go to parties, live expensive “lies” which the parents couldn’t afford. At first the student started finding faults in the parents, complained about things he/she endured before and soon the student started looking for other means to fit in with friends. We all know how stories like this end.

It is not wrong to have friends who are way better off than you are, because they will challenge you to be better, let you see that there is more to life and they also become your connection in life going forward. However, you should have at the back of your mind that you have to live within your means. Don’t lose your home training because you want to fit in. What seems like luxury today, give it time would be at your finger tips tomorrow. Don’t push yourself into things that you would live to regret. No matter what cool name is given to atrocities, it won’t make the disgrace that comes with it less disturbing. Remember the daughter or son of whom you are.

Some people lost their virginity because of phones, some ended up in jail because of ride and others lost their lives to a one night fun all in their bid to raise money for jewelries, wears and “owanbe” but in the end they gained nothing, absolutely nothing. Please don’t thread this path. You can get way better things if you could just be patient. There are no shortcuts to success or should I say there are no shortcuts without devastating consequences.

When you live above your means, people won’t know you need help, they see you as having all, while in reality you have no savings and worse of all you are in debt because you want to meet up. Unfortunately, when it all comes down, there is hardly anyone to turn to. Don’t be a statistic on the wrong board. There are lots of people hoping to see you succeed, don’t disappoint them.

You want to look tough, the way of the hood, you are a hustler with street sense but do you know you don’t have to look rough before people know you are tough? Looking decent is not a crime, in fact it opens doors of opportunities. People would take you the way you present yourself. You have already been through a lot, don’t stiffen the few opportunities that are coming your way just because you look like an havoc ready to wreck.

This is just a phase in your life, a test of your resilience don’t mess it up. “Se bi o timo” and you will be able to face the world and tell your success story.