By Tinashe Bonde
In my previous post I was talking about getting to the top and
if there is one activity that I will always enjoy its none other than mountain
climbing. It gives you the feel of achievement that when you reach the summit
you can look back downhill and marvel at all the setbacks you would have conquered
and it is no doubt that this is the same with success. When you finally achieve
something great, you marvel at the lot of criticism you would have conquered,
the discouragement you would have stood against and just announce yourself as a
winner and you can now sing, ‘Mama I made it!’
I remember one of my very best experiences of mountain
climbing was when we set ourselves up for the Nyangani Range ‘Mozi Mountain’.
It was a tedious journey and it was not a stroll in the park navigating our way
in the bush and plantations but we were set to reach the top at all costs
because for the past six years we would always marvel at the rocky summit and a
lot of beautiful trees and some strange stories were always told about the
mountain and mostly about the summit.
It was everyone’s hope that one day they
would get on the top and see it for ourselves. We finally set up as the class
of 2016 and pitched ourselves for the challenge. I was one of the first people
to get to the summit and I just felt like Christopher Columbus or some might
traveler who had finally discovered a beautiful place, and to be honest with
you the sight was very beautiful and we could see the whole valley and all
other places in the low-lying areas. We felt like we were on top of the world,
and to my surprise many people were already dreaming if they could stay there
for life and many still did not want to come back but we just had to return
back.
This is the same thing with success, once you get on to the
top, you will want to stay there. You no longer want to come back and you just
wish if it will be possible to pitch up your life in that lifestyle. It is like
once you get a feel of being rich, you no longer want to be poor and this is
also the same thing with success that once you achieve it you no longer want to
settle for less. You no longer want mediocrity and this is the nicest place to
be and I urge you all that you at least get to the top once and you will tell
me the feel. Just like when we reached the summit, we felt like we could
conquer the whole area now, and it was just because we could see it all. If we
were to invade the area like the colonialists, we could easily do so, because
we were on the top, and could carefully plan, observe and execute because the
whole area was in our eyes. This is also the same thing with success, the
moment you have something that you have successfully done no matter how small,
you can even say it to yourself, and “I can do all things”.
This is because at
the top, everything seems to be in your control as it is in your eyes. The top is not overcrowded, so why not aim
high for it?
On our way back, we had some strange feeling in our legs and
we all noticed that going uphill was less painful than going downhill and for
those who have done some mountain climbing, they can testify to that and I will
not go into the Biology of that for now. The same thing happens to all of us,
and we all know that after having been on the top, we do not want to come down.
After having been the CEO you no longer want to go back to be a normal employee
and some even go to the extent of saying, ‘Power corrupts!!’ and this is very
true to some, but for today let’s stick to Success. It is more painful to go
down the ladder than up, and the reason why most people are depressed is not
that they are trying hard to make their lives better but it is because they are
feeling themselves going down and they can’t bear the cost of being laughed at,
mocked, referenced for failure etc. When we were at the top, we wished if we
could climb higher mountains and this is the spirit that takes over when you at
the top and it is the same spirit that has kept, Strive Masiyiwa and Aliko
Dangote going.
Just to wrap up, Success is a journey. The top is often
uncrowded. There is always room at the top and lastly, Aim Higher!!!!!
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