ARE YOU UNIQUE?

It is a normal practice for people to follow the steps of other people, that is, basing their decision on the choices that people have tried and tested to be effective. But, it is not an approach that should be practiced without proper due diligence. The end result of blindly adopting a strategy or plan just based on the premise that it worked for some else may lead to regrets.

You may look senseless for standing out from the crowd because of the kind of unconventional choices you make, yet these scary stance is what will distinguish you from others. There are many people struggling to achieve their goal and get to the peak of their career, relationships, finances etc, because they are following the crowd - oftentimes the wrong choice. The few people at the top are those who take scary decisions and took the risks others are afraid of.

In our world today, we pay too much attention to the opinions of others. We pay so much attention to the opinions of family, friends, media and so on. We tend to ignore our instincts and let what other people say take control of our lives. Allowing the opinions of other people to overshadow your instinct may be detrimental to you on the long run.

Photo by Cagkansayin from Istockphoto
I saw a Nollywood movie earlier this month and it struck me so hard that it exposed the demerits of always following public opinions.

The major character in the movie is a popular actor who is always busy on set shooting one film or the other. Due to the nature of his job, he doesn't sleep in the house for some days and some times for weeks. The wife was supportive and understanding that she prays for good opportunities for her husband daily. She started doubting her husband of cheating when her friends fed her with stories of how a man was caught having an affair with his Personal Assistant in the office. She resisted the temptation to doubt her husband at first that she had to send her friends out of her house in anger for talking about her husband in that manner.

After that day, different suspicious thoughts started crossing her mind and she begin to act on the suspicions. A family that was filled with bliss now turned sour due to the opinion of her friends. She made life unbearable for her husband to the extent that he could not concentrate at work. He started losing jobs due to his poor performance and his life began to become a mess.

Photo by Clay Banks from Unsplash
Meanwhile, one of the so called friend, who claims to deal with her husband anytime she suspects him for cheating actually misled her. Her husband is an unapologetic cheat that does his thing right in front of her eyes and she couldn't not even speak not to talk of doing half of the things they advised their friend to do. Also, the other friend is a prostitute that has been trying to have her way with the actor for a long time but all to no avail. Their intentions were to tarnish the image of the husband and scatter the happy marriage so that she would be able to have free access to the man. While for the other friend, she's jealous that her friend is happy in her marriage, so all they want is to scatter the marriage.

Unfortunately, it was too late before she realized that she had followed the crowd for the wrong reasons.

Photo by Calvin Weibel from Unsplash
You must be willing to make uncommon decisions if you want to experience a wonderful relationship or marriage, top-notch performance in your career and an overall success in life. No doubt, uncommon choices will pose some challenges from the people around you, they will try to talk you down, discourage you and even attempt to bring you down. Do not fall for their gimmicks. Do not let their efforts to affect your stance. Be mindful of the way you react to jealousy, or mockery when you make your unconventional choices. You may be bringing yourself down to the level of the crowd if you react in a negative manner to their attempts to discourage you.

Don't be afraid to stand out! It only takes an uncommon and unconventional choice to assure you of that extraordinary life that you want for yourself.