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LESSONS LEARNT FROM AN OG

ifeoluwa88Posted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago4 min read

Here is a contest by samest about who inspires you. You can read more about it here.
Here is one of the people that inspired me with their story.

maxresdefault.jpgOG Mandino

Have you ever heard of him? If No, well he is an OG?!?!
Not an old gangstar, but Og Mandino. He was born Augustine Mandino in Natick, Massachusetts. He lost his mother when he was a teenager and was about to go to college. He had to quit school to work at a paper factory and later joined the United States Army Air Corps where he became a military officer and a bombardier with over 30 mission during World War II.

“Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” ― Og Mandino

He survived the war, came back to America, settled down (married). During the course of him living after the war, he became an alcoholic. I guess this is due to the demons he was trying to fight after the war. He lost everything dear to him due to his addiction with alcohol and ended up being homeless. He became nothing and his life spiraled from been a hero to a zero.

He was walking by a thrift store one rainy day, he then decided to buy a gun. He bought the gun but had no money for bullet, so he returned the gun and left the store to go chill at the library. He was encouraged by his late mother to venture into writing after he showed interest in books. While wandering around in the library, he fell in love with reading again and became a regular at the library of wherever place he found himself and this help curbed his drinking addiction.

Remind thyself, in the darkest moments, that every failure is only a step toward success, every detection of what is false directs you toward what is true, every trial exhausts some tempting form of error, and every adversity will only hide, for a time, your path to peace and fulfillment. ― Og Mandino

One day during his usual library routine, he went to the self help section and picked up a book titled, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by W. Clement Stone. He was really inspired by this book that he wrote the author and asked him for a job in sales, since W. Clement Stone owned a big insurance company then. Og became successful at his job and the other ones he got after, that he had to quit and pursue his dream in writing. He wrote his first book The Greatest Salesman In the World, which became a success and a classic. He wrote over 20 books and sold over 40 million copies of books. He became a renowned motivational speaker and writer.

chance-future-hope-quote-stars-favim-com-433721.jpg
Chance

WHAT I LEARNED FROM HIS STORY:

  • Sometimes we respond to difficulties in fear, anger, despair, sadness and so on. Some get stuck at this stage for years by being miserable, while some learn to move on by having the ability to see hope in disappointment and failure. There are going to be very challenging days filled with negative people, never let this deter you from your life race .

  • Instead of focusing on your pain and hurt, learn to focus on happiness and how not to get stuck in negativity and past pain. Fight depression, choose to remind yourself that it is just a phase “This too shall pass.”

  • Regain your power to continue to strive toward your tomorrow with new opportunities to begin anew. It enables you to get through things as effective and efficient as possible. Take your life seriously, but not to the point where you are overly stressed and not being yourself. Integrate laughter and humor into your life especially during stressful situations.

  • If you are one of those people who revel themselves on being self-independent, finds it difficult to seek for help in times of crisis this can be challenging. It requires a discipline to admit that you're in pain and that those around you may have the strength you need. Allow yourself to accept their love, wisdom and support. This can renew your faith and hope in yourself, and end up helping you speed your healing.

CONCLUSION:
Embrace reality and live your life as it is rather than as you wish it. The secret to life is to want what you have and not otherwise. When we do this we enjoy life and value our experiences.

Please do not forget to vote @wls-africa, @yensesa-witness, @god, @altruistic, @krazykrista, @bhive, @dbread.

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