I was an athlete. Heck! God knows I could sprint. I represented my primary school in many events and came returned with laurels. The 3 fastest female athletes were placed 50 metres ahead of the 3 fastest males (I was one) in a 100 metre race, and I'll place 2nd, trailing the lady by only about one metre. That was how we were trained. 

I once wore an oversized pair of shorts in a race, running with one hand firmly holding the excess band on the waist, intermittently pausing to adjust it, and still won the race. This was in class 6. I raced a puma once in my dream and won. I was that fast, trust me. It was the only sports I excelled in tremendously besides table tennis. I will tell you about that too some day.

I entered Accra Academy and realized it was home to some of the athletic greats of this country – famed Adjin-Tettey, brothers Joe and Leo Myles-Mills and others. I envisioned my name also etched on the school's hall of fame board one day for sports. 

I happened to be party to a conversation with two of my seniors one day. They spoke of how some schools in the Central Region excelled in sports and how their sportsmen were well cared for. They cited St Augustine’s and Adisadel College as examples. Then one lamented on how our school treated its athletes.

He bemoaned the fact that the school didn’t give two hoots if an athlete got injured – he’d be left to take care of himself – and yet was expected to return to the team when he recovered. That was my cue! I decided never to run for the school. In fact, the closest I came was to train to represent my hall in our inter-hall games. After the first evening training session, I earned the moniker ‘Pajero’. But I never ran on the d-day – myself and another super fast athlete who I also convinced not to run for the school based on what I had heard.

Today, I thought of that incident and teared up. I never pursued a sport that brought me joy whenever I was engaged in it. I got sadder when I remembered how I led another astray because I heard two non-athletes talk and believed without verification. ‘Hearsay’ eroded my dream of having my name etched up on the hall of fame board for sports in the great K.G. Konuah Assembly Hall. It will certainly be up there one day, except it won't be for sports.

Dear reader, how many times have you not allowed yourself to be talked out of a business idea you conceived by a ‘non-entrepreneur’? People who haven’t tried their hands on anything and even failed have been successful in their attempt at getting us shelve our ideas.

Do you not know people who have been advised not to marry from certain tribes because of one long-held belief or another? The advisors themselves do not know these ‘beliefs’ for a fact, but because they heard it from another. I know a few people who have fallen victims. I’m sure you do too.

There is nothing we can do about the presence of naysayers in our lives. But there exists something we can do about their utterances; drown them with the words of Philippians 4:13… “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. This is applicable to anything God has endowed you with except you are trying to fit your size 12 body into a size 8 dress - in which case God Himself would have a good laugh.

So as we have begun a new month, pray for strength to say no to the voice of the naysayers. Their words can be like double-edged swords. Resist them with everything you have in you. Draw on words of inspiration. Listen to songs that uplift your spirit. But hey!, don’t just pray – start working on those ideas. It’ll be foolhardy to pray for strength and yet not make a move towards your dream.

 

More Vim…Let’s Go…   

The writer works in the finance department of The Multimedia Group. He can be contacted at pkbwilliams@yahoo.co.uk. Click here for other articles he’s authored.