The Difference Between A Successful Person And Others Is…

When I was growing up, I used to say, when I am through with schooling, I want to be a great writer. I want to write many books and articles which would be read all over the world. I want to become famous like Maya Angelou or Ben Carson. I want to inspire people and change their way of thinking and reacting to issues through my work. I want to be among the most prolific writers of our time and even generations to come. That was a big dream; a dream of a student who had confidence that a great future was awaiting her. I did not want to think that at one time I would give up on my dream. My big dream. Never.

I can’t tell when my life took a totally different direction. It was a gradual change that came as time flew by. I so often thought, “Maybe I cannot do that. Can I write much? Me? Someone else is more worth it than I am.” And that convinced me enough.

At some point, I stopped thinking about my big dream all together and just waited for fate to take me where it wishes. "Ugh, I'll just take whatever life will offer...maybe I can open up a grocery and sell greens. That can do! I will get some few coins for upkeep and that's it. Or maybe I can just get married and make a good housewife!" I said.

One evening as I wrote my journals for fun, a strong strange force came upon me that brought a flood of the childhood dreams. That beautiful dream I had clung on for so long. Where did it go? Why did I give up? Today, as I pen this down, my life is filled with a great satisfaction as I watch my dream finally taking shape.

I know that there are many people whose lives have taken a similar course as mine, because of encounters in life or maybe the feeling that they cannot do it. Or maybe they tried once and it failed so they gave up. One Vine Lombardi said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength, not lack of knowledge, but rather the lack of will.” I have faced the other side of life, I had lost my dream but today here I am, doing that which I love, seeing my dream come true!

Success is all about trying, failing, trying again, failing, and trying yet again till you make it! It is not about trying once and giving up when it fails. Let us not let time take away our dreams from us.

It is high time we revived our dreams; those we once had but gave up on for various reasons, or even forgot about without realizing it, for they are achievable since at one time we perceived them. All the best…

The author, Lucy Mbarya, is a writer for Kenya News Of Concern.