Words are very powerful and that's one of the reasons why the tongue is regarded as a delicate organ because of its power to kill or bring forth life. I do not mean to directly take a life but we have seen many cases of people using words to make the existence of a fellow human worthless and this is no different from killing.
I learned as a kid that there is power in the tongue and since then, I have always used it positively. I am so careful with words to the extent that I don't say foul words and I won't entertain them as well because it hits me differently. Instead of using the power in my tongue wrongly, I will rather remain quiet.
There are a lot of people who are always using the power in their tongue positively, we have many of them around us and whenever they speak, the impact of their words is always positive on us.
I have met lots of people whose words always had a huge impact on me and among them are people that I could run to at any time of the day to seek advice. There is also a group of these people I couldn't approach then but whenever I hear them speak, I do pick life-applicable lessons from their words and it would interest you to know that one of the best pieces of advice I have received in life didn't come from someone that I can approach ordinarily.
Growing up, I love listening to wise people. I tend to learn from them and this will make you see me a lot of times around elderly people. This habit of listening made me start downloading podcasts after I got my first Java phone.
I spend a lot of time listening to motivational speakers and some men of God teaching, it doesn't matter the religion. I became fond of Fela Durotoye, Sam Adeyemi, David Ibiyeomi, and many others, I always listen to their teaching both on the podcast and via TV.
I was at my pasting job in Ikeja back then when I heard one of the printing press staff listening to Sam Adeyemi. I had a short chat with him and went on to send the podcast to my phone. I settled to listen to it immediately after I returned to the pasting room.
Due to the noise there, I always use my hands-free and it didn't take long before his message started sinking into my head. My life at that time made a lot of Sam Adeyemi's teaching very relatable to me, I always felt like he was speaking directly to me.
At a point in the podcast, he started talking about people picking themselves up to fight through the challenges of life even when help is not coming.
He was really into the teaching and at a point he said, "No one is coming to help you and it is only a fool that will wait for help before tackling the challenges of their lives. The longer you wait, the weaker you get and a time will come when you won't be able to fight anymore".
I had to replay that part several times and even when I stopped, the words were playing back in my head. I felt the message passing through my veins and it was easier to tell that he made the podcast for me.
That year was my third after secondary school with no aim of continuing my education because my old man claimed to have a better plan for me. He had been telling me about this plan even before I finished secondary school and three years after school nothing had happened.
I felt too weak to continue working that day because a lot of things were going through my mind. I look around and said to myself that help wasn't coming truly because this man has the power to help me achieve my dreams and since he was doing it, he wasn't ready to help.
Why have I been waiting for his promises all this while? Why didn't I see that he wasn't going to do anything? I don't know but those words from Sam Adeyemi opened my eyes to what I failed to see.
Having a better understanding that help wasn't coming made me buckle down and took my life more seriously. Out of nothing I pursued furthering my education when the opportunity came and my life after that day took a new turn.
Today, I still have the mentality that help is not coming and that makes me put double effort into whatever I am doing. Even if help would eventually come, it would be a boost to my effort.