BUILD WHAT LASTS

My life is quite an interesting one filled with so many things that I failed at and things that I just somehow enjoy even when a lot of persons struggled with it. One thing I think I have always enjoyed and have access to is people. When I was small I just enjoyed making friends. I loved it when I was helpful to people and I cared less if they could help me but I was happy whenever they did, although I somehow didn’t know how to be grateful to them verbally and they thought I wasn’t grateful, lol. I still wonder how I didn’t know how to be grateful when someone does something good for me.

It was only until recently I learnt how to be grateful for every little thing as much as possible. So back to having access to people, it has always been something I had since I was a child and I believe it’s all thanks to my dad and mum. They were people that always welcomed those around them and I loved that as a child and even though I didn’t state it out, I knew I wanted to be like them in that aspect - welcoming. At that point, I never saw any importance of having people. I just loved the idea of having people. Although growing up, I saw how troublesome humans can be but never for once did I stop being thankful that I have them around me.

It was after so many years I started grasping the benefits of building a circle. How it builds people and also capable of destroying them. I had people around me I didn’t really flow with at first but I was determined to keep people as much as I can. I also had people around me that did not like me but I was happy they tried so much to keep their hate to themselves. They show it every now and then but it was later I realized just how much those particular people build me. They were the major reasons I kept growing but at that point, I never truly saw it that way. I only saw their hate for me and I noticed I started struggling to love them because the world teaches us to love those that love us and hate those that hates us.

With all that said, the hivelearners topic for this week’s 2nd edition has asked us to share a lesson we have learnt that wasn’t from the school system. I believe I have learnt more than 70% of the things I know outside the school system. But I have learnt some major lessons too from the school system as well. For the sake of this write up, I’ll be sharing just one thing that is almost all encompassing that I have learnt from life and not from being in school.

That lesson is the importance of building connections. I have always had people around me like I mentioned before but I just did it back then because my parents did and I liked it. It was when I joined hive I saw how people kept talking about focusing more on building connections than rewards and then it all made sense. Most times we are carried away by the benefits we can get from people and we forget the people themselves and the little things that makes all the difference. I know of people that do not mingle with certain persons because they feel they can’t benefit anything from them.

I once heard a story of a person. The story is not perfect anymore in my head but I’ll try as much as I can to just pass the message of the story. This person was traveling for work and on his way, inside the vehicle he boarded he saw a little boy who was with his mum sitting next to him restless. Unlike what he would normally do, this man started playing with this child and it made the mother of the child happy because they child kept crying uncontrollably but somehow the man was able to do something that the child found interesting and that was how they got playing.

Still on the journey, the vehicle was hijacked by bandits and their plans was to take away anyone who wasn’t of their tribe. They took a few persons and they were also about to take this man when the woman spoke in their language and saved him. I’m very sure you might be wondering what she said. The man was too and the woman told him that she was only showing her appreciation for what he has done. She told the bandit he was her brother in law and they were going to the village for a function. They believed her because she could speak their language.

The woman further told the man that a lot of persons usually would not do what the man did. They would rather mind their business. That story is to illustrate a little the importance of keeping people. Building relationships. It starts in a second but you will determine how long it will last. Don’t dispose people because you have gotten what you wanted or refuse to build with people because they have nothing at the moment. You don’t know what tomorrow holds neither do I. This is one of the lessons I have learnt.

Thank you for reading through. ❤️