Can you still win? Would everything turn out well?
I want you to question the hopelessness you might be experiencing in one or more area of your life and I want you to tell if you still have faith that things could change.
Hey there,
Today, I’m going to be asking you a couple of questions to help you assess where your head is at and test the quality of what you truly believe about the world and about yourself.
We live in a world where there is consistently overwhelming evidence trying to convince us that darkness and hopelessness are the natural and ideal state of the world. And in a way, we subconsciously accept those realities, and in accepting them, they seep into our lives and make as believe nothing good is possible.
In a country like Nigeria (and honestly, many other places in the world), we have consistently been conditioned to thrive in dysfunction, accept there’s nothing we can do about that dysfunction or to believe that we function better in dysfunction. I will still connect this to how it plays out in your career, life and relationships but stay with me.
Somehow, it become our reality that only the outliers, the unique few believe strongly enough that in this darkness, in this confusion, in this cluelessness, in this chaotic environment, and in this dark world, they can still make something good out of it and they can make it better.
Most people cannot conceive that things can be better. In fact, they when they see optimistic people.
So my assessment today, or my submission is to find out which side you’re on.
Are you on the side that has embraced all of that negativity, justified it, accepted it as the reality of the world, and subconsciously said, “Hey, all of that is in the world, and it is what it is.
Or are you one of those people who have determined in their mind that this is not what the world is supposed to be, and that they contribute to making it different by making sure that their own life is not that way?
Despite the darkness in the world, can you still be a light?
Can you have light in your life? Can you make sure that other have that light in their life? Do you think it is possible.
If even one line here made you pause, rethink, or feel more focused—imagine the impact of getting this kind of clarity every week. Hit subscribe and don’t miss the next one.
Don’t just read through. Genuinely answer the question. We are going somewhere with this.
Can you function in excellence, in strategically curated peace?
Can you expand the territory of that peace into other parts of the world, into your family, and into every ecosystem around you? Do you see yourself creating a sane and functional environment for yourself and do you see yourself coming up with a plan to replicate that result in your life and in the life of others.
Because I promise you, I feel that most of us do not ask ourselves these questions.
What this looks like for you?
That is the big vision. Let me bring it home to you.
The average Nigerian carries things. Baggage. Or more accurately, trauma. You can call it lived experiences. You can paint it as “disciplined upbringing”. All in all, it’s an experience that left a negative residue in their life.
For most of us, these things are normal experiences that we grew up with by virtue of our environment.
We have poverty mentality (you might argue but, you do). We have power shortage. We are not as educated as many of the more developed parts of the world. We are not great at manufacturing. We do not have exceptionally excellent sectors that have matured to standards unrivalled by the rest of the world.
Most of us do not know what a truly amazing and functional country feels like.
Many of us do not know what excellent and loving families look like.
Most of us do not know what uncorrupted religion and faith look like (this one, LOL).
We carry all of these things through life while going through a subpar educational system and living in a dysfunctional society plagued by traffic, instability, and chaos.
Everything around us signals to us that imperfection is the status quo here. Lack of excellence, lack of neatness, and lack of attention to detail have become our reality.
And when people hold up a light of excellence to us, we are either threatened by it, or we subconsciously try to pull it down (saying they are doing too much). We find the error in that excellence or even a minimally flawed presentation of an idea and magnify the errors beyond the excellence itself (e.g. Moniepoint CEO’s speech at the platform 2026 and the negative press the emerged from it.)
We can’t look at something good and appreciate it even when it’s imperfect, the lens our experience have formed have made sure we are more likely to respond to the negative part and amplify it even if 98% is good.
We look for errors, we spot them, not to fix them or positively critique, but to connect to it. To relate to it. To validate what we are already used to. Negativity and dysfunction.
Now, in all of that, say you are someone who grew up in a not-so-great family, a not-so-privileged family, with a not-so-excellent education or background. You grew up without excellent grades, without excellent role models, and you are living in a not-so-excellent community or environment.
My question to you is this:
Can you still win?
Will everything still turn out well?
And in fact, do you even know what “well” looks like?
Do you believe that despite all of that, you can still pull yourself together and drive your life to a point where excellence is the norm, sanity is the norm, and a beautiful family, a beautiful community, and a rich, expansive, luxurious lifestyle become normal for you?
Do you believe you can become an active contributor to your community and build a life that looks nothing like everything you saw growing up, despite everything that has happened in your life?
Have you ever sat down and pictured what that looks like?
In your community and everyday life…
Have you imagined that the problems you grew up with could end with you, and that you could contribute to making sure they are not the norm for the next generation?
Have you pictured what excellent service looks like?
You go to a restaurant, and it does not even have to be luxurious, but the service is excellent.
The baseline of everything around you is simply good.
You drive on the road and never encounter traffic.
You get into your house and you do not need an expensive inverter or solar system just for electricity to work.
Water works.
Your life is seamless and easy, the same level of ease that people experience in relatively more functional countries.
In terms of ambition, sanity and healthy life
Do you ever see yourself living that life without trading your sanity for it or overworking yourself to death?
Do you ever picture a future where your children go to great schools, not because you are exceptionally wealthy, but because great schools are normal?
A future where they live through life without trauma.
A future where religion shapes them positively the way it is supposed to.
A future where they have a richer and more fertile experience of life than you did.
And when you look at their lives, you are genuinely happy for them.
You are not bitter because they did not suffer the way you suffered.
You do not say, “They need to appreciate what they have more because I suffered.”
Instead, you appreciate what they have because that should have been the normal all along, not your trauma.
And now, just to bring it even closer to home:
For everyone who has gone through less-than-ideal situations, abuse in relationships, abuse from parents, loss of parents, almost losing your life, terrible health challenges, or firsthand experiences of what it means for a country to fail you...
For those who are products of a terrible educational system that made you attempt university admission three, five, six, or even seven times...
For those who finally got into university and graduated with less-than-ideal grades, or even excellent grades, only to come out confused about what to do next...
Do you see yourself getting to a point where you look around your life and there is nothing that triggers trauma, pain, or dysfunction?
Do you see yourself healing from everything you have experienced and living in a much better place?
Do you see yourself living a life where your vices are no longer the thing helping you survive?
Do you see yourself being genuinely happy?
Do you see yourself smiling often and living in peace?
And if you see all of that, do you see yourself having it now?
Do you see yourself having it in this country?
What is that thing you have told yourself you must first have before you deserve happiness?
What is that thing that has made you believe that all the good and functional things I have mentioned in this article are out of reach for you?
What made you believe you do not deserve them?
Tell me.
To close…
There is a way all the things we go through can condition what we expect out of life. Where we accept the barest minimum in our relationship because in comparison to everything else we’ve experienced, this is much better.
Where we stick with a low paying job because we are not qualified for more.
Where no one can convince you that Nigeria can ever work and be functional because you’ve been through and have seen so much.
This is what TRAUMA looks like. You cannot live like this.
So I ask you again…
Can you still win? Would everything still turn out well?
In summary
Life works on the principle that you get things or experiences as far as your eyes can see. The problem is that most of us don’t see very far.
Having seen what is possible, make it your responsibility to make it happen. Don’t put fingers at anyone.
AI Adoption and the Actual Reality
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I really believe that everything will turn out well but my lack of commitment, focus and discipline make me feel like it is out of reach.