By Pharm. Sesan Kareem
Friend, you have what it takes to turn your scars to stars, discomforts to comforts, failures to successes, and disadvantages to advantages. Yes, you have the courage to rise above pessimism and open your mind to the optimistic view of life.
Amidst life’s challenging storms, despite devastating thunders and the atmosphere of crippling darkness seldom lit by ironic lightning, you can find your light, your voice, your identity, your strength, and carve a niche for yourself.
I have never read or heard of any successful man who has never suffered setbacks, failures, trials, pains, disappointments or challenges. All these experiences are part of the menu of success in life. The most interesting part is that great people are those who have learnt to turn their scars to stars. Here are few examples.
- MICHAEL JORDAN. He is very famous for being left out of his high school basketball team. He turned out to be the greatest basketball player by turning his scars to stars. One of his personal quotes is, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
- J.K. ROWLING. She was penniless, recently divorced and raising a child on her own. She typed the first Harry Potter book with an old manual typewriter. Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript. A year later, she was given the green light by Barring Cunning from Bloomsbury, who agreed to publish the book but insisted she get a day job because there was no money in publishing children books. But she kept going, despite all her setbacks and challenges. Years after publishing her first book, she became richer than The Queen of England. She said, “You might never fail in the scale I did. But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
- MARK CUBAN. The owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks got rich when he sold his company to Yahoo at the price of 5.9 billion dollars in stock. He said he was terrible at his earlier jobs. So, he tried carpentry but he hated it. He was a short under-cook but a terrible one. He admitted he has failed many times in his life. He once remarked, “I have learnt that it doesn’t matter how many times you failed, you only have to be right once. I tried to sell powdered milk. I was an idiot a lot of times, and I learnt from them all.”
- WALT DISNEY. His first animation company went bankrupt. He was fired by a news editor because he lacked imagination. He was turned down over 300 times before he got financing for creating Disney World. Despite his failures, he turned Disney World to a world-class company. But all this was possible because he didn’t give up. He turned his scars to stars. Walt Disney noted, “I think it is important to have a good hard failure when you are young. I learnt a lot of that, because it makes you kind of aware of what can happen to you. Because of it, I’ve never had any fear in my whole life. When we’ve been near collapse and all of that. I’ve never been afraid, I’ve never had the feeling that I couldn’t walk out and get a job doing something.”
Despite your scars, you can still forge ahead and enjoy a rich and rewarding life like a superstar. In spite of your mistakes and failures you can still learn how to become successful. Oh yes, you can, if you are not ready to give up. Keep the faith, believe in yourself and keep believing in yourself regardless of how mighty your battle is.
American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “What lies before us and what lies behind us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” The master has said it all, what else can I say? Turn your scars to stars!
ACTION PLAN: Learn from your past but don’t live in your past. Double your failure rates and learn from them until you get it right. Be fearless, be courageous, take calculated risk. Believe in yourself and have faith that you can achieve your goals and dreams despite the challenges you are currently facing.
AFFIRMATION: I have the inner power to turn my scars to stars. If Michael Jordan, JK Rowling, Mark Cuban and Walt Disney can do it, I can do it.
