Per Adua Astra: Overcoming Hindrances to Stardom!

Dear reader, welcome to another moment of inspiration and motivation. One truth you must not ignore on your way to stardom is this: EVERY OBSTACLE STANDING ON YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS CAN BE TURNED TO STEPPING STONE ON WHICH YOU CLIMB TO REACH GREATER HEIGHT.

For this reason, you should stop seeing obstacles as hindrances to your success. When you are desirous of achieving great success in life, nothing can hold you back.

The story is told of two siblings. These siblings lost their parents when they were of tender age. They were taken to separate relations to be brought up. After twenty-five years, they were brought together for a reunion.

One of them became a successful man while the other became a drunkard. When their relations asked how the former became what he had become, he replied: “What do you expect of a person with such a humble background as mine? I lost my parents when I was a child I had no helper. This humble background of mine kept pinching me on my back and urging me to become successful in life.”

When the latter was asked about his own life, he replied: “What do you expect of a person with such a humble background as mine? I lost my parents when I was two. I had no person to support me. With this kind of situation, how do you expect me to succeed in life?”

Dear reader, we all want to be successful in life, but unfortunately, not all of us will achieve great success in life. The reason for this is not farfetched. The story of these two siblings contains some lessons we can learn and apply in our own lives. Let us look at some of these lessons:

1.   How You Handle Unpleasant Circumstances Determine How Far You Will Go in Life

The fact about life is that the circumstance of one’s birth or upbringing does not determine one’s fate in life. It is not where you come from that matters; it is where you make up your mind to be or go. Your background, race or colour has nothing to do with your success in life.

From the story of the two siblings above, it is crystal clear that they came from the same background. They had the same parents. They lost their parents at the same time. They were brought up separately by different relations. It was not that one of the relations that brought one of the siblings up was richer and so trained one of the siblings while the other relations was poor and so could not train the other sibling.

The two relations that brought the children up separately were not well-to-do. They only did the best they could to bring them up, and then left them to chart a course for their lives. One became successful while the other became a hopeless drunkard.

The reason why one became successful while the other did not is obvious: they both handled their unpleasant circumstances differently. While the brother that became successful used the unpleasant circumstance of his birth as a spur to urge him on to succeed in life; the other brother who became a drunkard, used the unpleasant circumstance of his birth as an insurmountable obstacle to his success in life.

The opinion you hold constantly about your life and future matters, as it will go a long way in determining how you handle circumstances of life. The brother who became a drunkard kept holding unto the belief that since he was an orphan and had no helper, there was no way he could succeed in life. Consequently, he never made any effort to become successful in life.

The problem is not the background you come from. It is how you see the background. If you see your background as an obstacle to your success in life, you may never be able to achieve great success in life. This is because you have already concluded that there is no hope for you as far as your background is concerned.

There must at least be a ray of hope before you can actually summon up the courage to get up and really work to achieve success in life. A person without hope is as good as dead. Such a person loses the fighting chance of succeeding in life.

When you lose hope in life, you incapacitate yourself. Just as you shut down your computer, feeling of hopelessness shuts down your mental, physical and spiritual power which you are supposed to use in achieving great success in life.     

But, if on the other hand, you see the unpleasant circumstance of your birth as a spur, hope will well up in you. This will turn on in you the very power system that you will use to achieve outstanding success. This is what the brother who became successful did.

He refused to allow the unpleasant situation he was passing through to hold him back from achieving greatness in life. Instead, he used the unpleasant circumstances to spur him on. Can you beat that! The very obstacle that some people use as an excuse is the very obstacle that some others use as a stepping stone to climb to the height they have set for themselves.

What is that obstacle you are using as an excuse for not making effort to succeed in life? As far as success is concerned, no obstacle or excuse is genuine enough to stop you from getting to the height you have set for yourself.

Regardless of the unpleasant situation you find yourself, you can make it in life. Nothing can stop you from succeeding in life if you make up your mind to succeed. You just have to stop seeing the unpleasant circumstances of your life as an obstacle to your success in life. Use the unpleasant circumstances to spur you on to achieve your heart’s desires.

IF YOU WANT TO GO FAR IN LIFE, LEARN TO POSITIVELY HANDLE EVERY NEGATIVE HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE.

2.   Look Beyond Human Help

One excuse the brother who became a drunkard gave for his failure is that he lost his parents at a tender age and so had no helper. To him, the cause of his failure is the death of his parents. His belief is that if his parents were alive, he would have become extremely successful.

But this is not always the case. If it were so, the other brother who became successful would not have achieved that feat. His condition was not better off than that of his brother-drunkard. They were all raised up as orphans and it was not that the successful brother was given better treatment.

The fact is this: YOUR SUCCESS IN LIFE IS NOT LARGELY TIED TO HUMAN HELP. The Book of success, the Bible says: “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Everything you need and whatever you want to become, comes from God. Agreed, God does not send our needs to us like manna from heaven. Agreed, God uses persons to help us. That is why you must look up to God first, because unless God uses someone to help you, no one can help you. Left for humans, assistance is a scarce commodity. A person may want to help you, but he may not have the means. Some may have the means, but they may not be willing to help you. And there are categories of people who will constitute themselves as your enemies. These people may or may not have the means of helping you, but they are not interested in your progress.

This is why you must look up to God for assistance. God knows how best to help you. Keep calling on God and be on the lookout for those He will use to assist you. The Psalmist said: “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Psalm 60:11-12).

Look beyond human help. The help of man is vain. Stop running from pillar to post. Start looking unto God for help. Unless God raises someone to help you, no one will. WHEN YOU CALL ON GOD, BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ANY HUMAN HELP THAT WILL COME YOUR WAY.

3.   Through Adversities to the Stars  

 The motto of British Royal Air Force is: “Per Adua Astra.” “Per adua astra” means through adversity to the stars. You can’t get to the stars without passing through adversities. We all want to be super stars, but what constitutes hindrances to many of us is the problem of facing all the obstacles that are piled on our way to stardom.

Many a time, we stop making effort to achieve our set goal because we are afraid of confronting obstacles on our way to success. In order to cover up our fear, we look for excuses we can give for our failure. And if we cannot find any, we manufacture one. The fact is: no excuse is reasonable enough to stop you from making it in life. IF YOU FIND SOMEONE REELING OUT EXCUSES AFTER EXCUSES FOR HIS FAILURE, IT IS AN INDICATION THAT HE HAS CHOSEN TO REMAIN A FAILURE.

In the story above, the brother who ended up a drunkard gave the excuse that because he lost his parents and had no helper, he could not succeed in life. But that is a flimsy excuse. His brother who became successful in life did not dwell on the same excuse. If he had, he would also have remained a failure.

ANYTIME YOU START GIVING EXCUSES FOR YOUR FAILURE, KNOW THAT YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO REMAIN A FAILURE. A MAN THAT IS BOUND FOR THE TOP WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO SET UP A FACTORY AND START MANUFACTURING EXCUSES.

Instead of giving excuses, he will use the excuses as a spur to urge him on to achieve massive success. Dear reader, on your way to the top, you will encounter adversities, but adversities are not meant to hold you down in failure and defeat. Adversities are meant to ginger you to be the best that God wants you to be. That is why you must not despair in times of adversity.

YOU CAN’T ACQUIRE THE STRENGTH TO REMAIN AT THE TOP UNTIL YOU HAVE PASSED THROUGH ADVERSITIES AND HAVE EMERGED VICTORIOUS. ADVERSITIES ARE THE PATHWAYS OF SUPER STARS.

Do you want to be a super star, then, listen: THERE IS NO SMOOTH WAY TO STARDOM. THE PATH TO STARDOM IS FILLED WITH ADVERSITIES. IF YOU FIND A SMOOTH PATH, THE PATH DOESN’T LEAD TO STARDOM.  The path that leads to stardom is the path that is filled with adversities. You will have to pass through adversities to get to the stars.

This is the lesson we can learn from the motto of British Royal Air Force: per adua astra. It is only through adversities that we will get to the stars. I urge you today never to use adversities as excuses for your failure. Rather, you should use them as spur to become the best that God wants you to be.

Until I come your way soon, go and put in the best that you can, with patience and perseverance, knowing full well that it is through adversities that you will get to stardom! Go and live victoriously!