Life is a race and everybody is in their own lane. And if you allow yourself to be influenced by what others are doing, you might not be happy with yourself after discovering what they are into.

1. Why compete when you can run your race?
All my age mates are now married with children. This statement and
reasoning lead many people to hurriedly go into marriage that never
worked. My former school mates are now millionaires and billionaires. They
now live large and drive flashy cars. They now travel from country to
country while I can’t boast of a wheel barrow. This way of thinking made
someone go into armed robbery and money rituals so as to be at par with
his so called mates. My neighbor who was very wretched yesterday is now
giving a helping hand to other needy neighbors. Everything about him has
changed and he is now living comfortably. Richness is now written all over
him, but I’m still here being a church rat. Not that I don’t work hard. This
mentality and thinking has made someone go into kidnapping and obtaining
by false pretense.
In all sincerity, there is nothing bad in hating your status in the
scheme of things in the society. If everyone had equal share of food,
clothes, shoes, cars, houses etc. from one source, nobody would notice
who is richer, more hardworking or lazy for that matter. Everyone would
boast of being able to acquire all those good things of life on one’s own.
The richest men who have enmassed so much wealth might not even have
much say in this situation. But, nature has a way of doing things. That is
why we have equal time and there is no limit to the amount of wealth you
can create. It is a good thing to take into account the fact that your mates
have done this and done that. But, dangerously going into competition with
them is condemnable and you should do everything possible to vehemently
resist that thought pattern.
More often than not, so many people go into competition with a
friend, a neighbor, a brother, a cousin or just any close person they feel is
doing well in life. Ironically most times the people they are competing with
would just be focused on what they are doing with no knowledge they are

2. competition with some hey, Mr. and Mrs. Competitor you have is yourself.
You cannot outperform your destiny.
Humans can organize artificial competitions in sports, academics,
entertainment and other aspect of human activities. But, when it comes to
practicability of individuals achievements, you definitely cannot outperform
your destiny. You have a good and excellent feeling of hating your low
status in scheme of things. That’s okay. What plans have you of changing
that status without hurting, harming or killing someone else? Have you
asked that your wretched neighbor who to you has suddenly become rich
what plans he has had over the years? That your neighbor could be one
smart ass who knows that meticulously implementing once plans without
much noise until the plan comes to fruition is the way to go. Meanwhile you
can have always see him as a neighbor whose status is same as yours.
You only got to know of his status when it had changed but when he was
having sleepless night, you were snoring your life away. And you are
suddenly in competition with him? Are you not crazy? Excuse me. You
heard me right. I mean you are mentally deranged. It is rather better and
wiser to start your own planning that moment if you have got no plans than
to also acquire a luxury car the next day after your neighbor drove in his.
And if you only become interested in acquiring a luxurious car because
someone you know got one for himself, then you are different from a
zombie. You are a robot being controlled with remote. You are not living
your own life.
Maybe you have no idea what unhealthy competition is doing to you
emotionally and otherwise. Unhealthy competition leads to jealousy, envy
and evil thoughts. And you know how dangerous it is to human community.
When you become jealous, then destruction will preoccupy your mind. And
how you execute your destructive thought pattern does not matter to you.
That is why a young man will gang up with his other friends, kidnap
his friend, kill him and have his dead body dumped elsewhere to
decompose or be eaten by the vulture. And when caught and asked why he
carried out such a dastardly act, he confessed to being jealous of the dead
guy’s lifestyle. That he was jealous of his luxurious lifestyle of driving

3. expensive cars and living in multimillion mansions, that was his
confessional statement. This goes to prove that truly, he who knows
someone ends up being his killer. Jealousy. Being in unhealthy competition
cost the life of a young man full of life and vibrancy. Someone who does not
know you can only see you from afar and wouldn’t know or have much to
do with you. It is he with whom you laugh, drink and spend time together
with that can easily succeed in killing or selling you out. Jealousy.
Why compete when you can run your race? Why endanger your
precious life of that of someone else in your guest to meet up? Life is very
simple and easy when you understand it. Strife to get better if you don’t like
where you are right now. If your friend is living large and has every good
things of life. Be happy for him. If the meal he eats are sent to him from
another planet and the only meal you can afford at the moment is half a
loaf of bread, then eat it like it was sent from another planet too. Why go
into unhealthy competition? The way you see and eat your half loaf of
bread matters a lot. While you are working towards a better you, do away
with unhealthy competitive emotions. When you kill someone, you have
killed more people than you realize. I know you did not know of this.
Here is what you didn’t know. The young man who was kidnapped
and killed by his friend was living not only for himself. He had a family who
were surviving through him. He had other friends he would regularly render
help for and so many people he used to take care of. A family member
could be seriously sick and the only one who could help financially is that
young man that was killed. No money for hospital bill, then the person dies.
Those who from time to time get some money from him are now hopeless.
Others that used to do business with him are now losers all because of tiny,
skinny, skeletal and ugly you.
If your friend is rich and has all the expensive cars in his garage, let
him be. If you have a bicycle that can take you from A to B, then ride your
bicycle with your head held high. If you have no bicycle, then take a bus or
taxi. Still cannot afford a taxi? Well, trek to where you are going. Life is very
simple. The sad reality of life is what we all cannot live in luxury. That is the
bitter truth. If your friend took what belongs to both of you and made

4. himself rich, then you have the right to feel jealous. And if you can’t control
your emotions and go out of the way to get back at him, there is nothing
bad in that. Even nature does the same thing in the name of karma. You
are a human being with feelings. He first proved himself not trustworthy and
reliable. He was the first to set a dangerous trend, and so has to pay for it
any which way. But a situation whereby you are jealous of him simply
because he drives flashy cars and live in mansions, the next is his kidnap
and murder. Burning you alive is not enough. Your soul deserves second
death or something worse than that.
My observation of life is likened to marathon race. Some people from
the beginning of the race are always a head of others. But before the race
is over, you realize that some couldn’t make it half way the stated distance.
Those who seemed to be a head came last or could not finish the race.
And you can hardly tell the winner until the race is over. That is how life is. I
know the only success people notice and talk about are material success.
That is why this article is revolving around material success. There is no
need being in competition but striving to be a better version of you is
paramount and can’t be over emphasized. It is a common knowledge that
some people succeed earlier than others. We all can’t buy cars at the same
time. We are school mates does not make us destiny mates. We cannot
marry at the same time and have children at the same time. Life was not
structured to function that way. If you understand this, then why act like it
was meant to be so? Life will no longer be interesting if we all start doing
things the same time. As far as individual life is concerned, it does not call
for competition.
That your family pressurized you to do it is no excuse. You get
involved in unhealthy competition that leads to evil thought pattern, you get
caught, and you face the law. And when you are found guilty, you face the
consequences of your actions. It is only you that will be there while being
tried. Even your parents will deny you because you did not bring honor to
them. So, why let them live your life for you? They made themselves
available for you to come to this world but they don’t have the right to live
your life for you. And if they say more, let them know that you are not in

5. competition with nobody. Also, remind them that some of their mates are
greater achievers than them. We all can’t be at the same place at the same
time. Even if we have a place we all want to meet, as far as we all are
coming from different locations, we can’t arrive at same time. Some would
get there earlier than others. That others arrived later does not mean they
never got to the place. That is how life is.
Tell me something. Did you say family pressure made you depressed
that made you jump into the lagoon? That your family is constantly
reminding you of your mates who are now super rich while you are still
struggling to fix your own life. Have no excuse to hurt someone else, ruin
your own life and waste away. You have one life to live. Whosoever that is
pressurizing you to do this or do that is only being selfish and wicked. You
can only be you and they can only be “them”. End of story.
Your community people are talking about rich people while you are
struggling to fix your life, let them talk. So many early achievers later lost all
they labored for. It was never their plan. There are a lot of people out there
whose wealth came later in life and they become super rich. You see these
things happening every day and you come up with a flimsy excuse of family
pressure. You lie. You made yourself a robot and were controlled with a
remote. Blame yourself for not using your head and not like to hear this
because it might surprise you. My mama started making unnecessary calls
and was trying to mount so called “pressure” on me. She would call every
now and then to remind me of who has done this and that. Can you guess
correctly what I did? After telling her to stop making reference to such
people and she insisted, I stopped answering her calls. A lot of time has
actually passed under the bridge and she has neither heard my voice nor
have I heard hers. That is how serious you should take your life. You have
got your life to live and shouldn’t be influenced by no one. Not even your
mum. Go out there, run your race. Do your things and live your life. And go
after that set goal without hurting no one. And if you don’t succeed in
making it big, you tried but you couldn’t outperform your destiny.
https://bit.ly/3rex5vD