Whoever we are, whatever we do, it is important to always run your own race. Believe me, the grass is never greener on the other side. Well except on some very rare occasions. The trick though is to take care of your own grass to the best of your ability, so the greeness of the other side doesn’t quite matter to you. Besides, the grass on the other side is far away from you, so you can’t really tell. The shade of green may just be lime green. Ewwwww, who likes lime green. LOL.

But seeing that we live in a world where every phase of our lives is a competition, including our childhood, it is quite difficult to not live wanting what other people have. Imagine a 7 year old feeling pressured because while she has biscuit and Ribena in her snack pack (which in my opinion there is nothing wrong with) others have a sandwich and juice plus a bar of chocolate. She believes she has “lost” to the girls who have chocolates with their snacks. No one is explaining to her that its a snack, its not meant to take the place of lunchtime. It’s not a competition on who brings the best food to school. Unfortunately it continues all the way to adulthood. Education, career, marriage, even friendship or something as innocent as posting photos on social media

You should have friends of like mind, but you don’t all have to like the same things.

I know people who as grown as they are still do things because someone else has done it and they can’t stand the thought of being left out. People go for masters degrees abroad because their classmate as an undergrad has gone. First thought is not about if the course is relevant to them. It’s just so they can say they have a masters degree from Hertfordshire. Seriously? Hertfordshire. You might as well have done it in Unilag. Don’t get me wrong please. Nothing bad in aspiring, nothing bad in being motivated by friends. But your life is your race to run, not anyone else. That someone did it a certain way and arrived at a certain destination doesn’t mean it would end for you same way. Some people go to school, build a career, get married, and make millions. Others make millions, get married then consider school. We are all built very differently. In the end, everyone has pretty much the same thing, just executed at different times. No rush, no hurry. No one is better than the other. As long as you are taking care of your grass.

So if you allow yourself be tensioned by wedding pictures on bella naija or by forbes endless list of billionaires under 30, you will die early, lonely and very broke.
Just look at the wedding pictures that float online, week in week out, everyone is trying to out do each other. It’s like a crazy competition. If someone does a pool side pre wedding photo shoot, the next bride will do hers by a lake in Dubai and then the next bride will head to the elegushi beach, and the next to Niagara falls. Meanwhile all na water theme.

Many people are living the life I very much want to be living at the moment but I have come to understand that it might take me an entirely different route to get there. It’s not about who gets there first. It’s about who gets there at the right time and in the right frame. Not every one wants to be president. Some people just want to be the one who cooks for presidents or photographs presidents or drives presidents. It doesn’t make anyone less ambitious or smaller. I mean if you take photos of only presidents, you must be pretty bad ass at what you do init?

Run your own race. Be the best at it.