Life is challenging as it is beautiful; but that doesn't mean we have to stop living or trying to live. As a young man from a background that will not pass as privilege, getting through the daily hustle meant one thing,- You fight all the way!
I am not going to be talking about the movie but about the real fight club that is life.
Life is sweet and that is why even the poor say it is sweet and the rich still gets to complain they do not have enough. Fighting is what most people are used to and no matter how they try, they must fight.
They fight daily with society, the government, the system and even themselves.
Fighting for real.
So what happens when you get thrust into a fight you are not quite ready for? I remember clearly now, the first real fight I was involved in..., it is still very clear because I bled and every time I remember, I still taste blood in my mouth.
Nostalgia is a Bitch. The streets of Warri is riff with many surprises and as a young boy growing up, I saw quite a number of fights.
We had the:-
- family fight- where family fights between themselves;
- street fight-street 'A' vs street 'B';
- help your brother fight- where the strongest member of the family comes to help the weakest settle a score by fighting for them;
- group fight-where its group 'A' vs group 'B';
- gather beat am-where a group of friends gang up on a person and unleash hell;
- cult fights-fight between rival cults which is really bloody;
- wording- where people come up to battle with words, more like yo mama!;
- one on one- you ran your mouth, use your hands;
- survival 101- venturing outside your comfort zone;
If I go on , I will not stop so do well, to name the ones you remember.
The thing is you must at a point in your life fight. It may be like one of the ones outlined or it may just be something different, but there will always be a fight.
I was in a fight where I for the fist time tasted my blood and it was not fun. I bled seriously after being headbutted by a girl my age. I was 13 then.
I have had quite a number of fights before then and I am known to always win because, I was quick with the punches and all that stuff, but that day, the beating was on me.
As soon as I was headbutted, my upper lip split in two and the foundation of my front teeth shook and then she sealed the deal with a stars blazing punch that left a cut under my left eye. Oh.., it was a black eye sir and it wasn't funny.
Common, give me a break, didn't your mama teach you not to hit a girl?
That incident dealt a blow to my street cred and for years, I was always reminded of it. Well, almost 3 decades after, I still remember and wished it didn't happen but glad it did because I learnt one very valuable life lesson and that is; "sometimes, we get knocked down by those things we never saw coming because they never come as a challenge but, as a harmless beautiful sweet girl with no threats at all."
LESSONS
I learnt quite some stuff about that day when I was beaten by a girl who "posed" no threats at all.
- Learn to anticipate sucker punches.-
Life is nasty and to show you how nasty it can be, it fights dirty. We are daily confronted with lots of unforeseen events and whenever we fail to watch, we get sucker punched. You must walk into life swinging.., and I like to see myself as Mohammed Ali, 'dance like a butterfly, stink like a bee.' Your moves must be unpredictable and you must be good at "dancing" and being able also to land your calculated punches...sting.
- Never stay down.-
I stayed down after the headbutt and that caused me, as I was soon given a cut and black eye. When you are hit with the harshness that is life's 'juice', refuse to stay down. Keep your head up and make sure to fight it out. Staying
down is a big mistake because you will have allowed the entire army in that battle ride you over.
Its a punch, hold your hands up and look through the blood stained eye for the next attack and if you look clearly enough, you may just stop the next attack in time.
- Heal quickly.-
You must learn to heal quickly from you wounds. The dog is known to lick its wound and you should too.
The road to recovery starts with renewed strength and that only becomes possible when you heal quickly or like the dogs, lick your wounds. Most people are used to being told 'sorry' and that makes them expect the sympathy of the world whenever they are under attack.
Stop being a wuzz and heal quickly.
-See everyday as a day for a Rematch.-
Like the physical boxing or wrestling bouts, a rematch always lurks in the shadows and it is called by either parties involved. And in life's case, it is called by life and not the individual. So make sure to get ready for a a rematch where you should hopefully win.
The mistakes that led to your defeat in the previous fight, must be addressed and corrected.
There will always be a Rematch and you must be ready to fight and win, in fact, you should land a sucker punch at the first opportunity you get.
- Fight for the Prize.-
In every fight, a winner must emerge and a loser will cry. You can choose to get the former or the latter and trust me, the latter is what most people are used to, but I have since settled for the former after that incident that made me lost my street cred in the hand of a girl. In every battle, there is a prize and you look towards standing on the podium to claim it.
Sleeping, waking up, eating, breathing, cohabiting, sowing, reaping, crawling, walking, running, flying, creating, winning, losing, trying, not trying, hard work, smart work, steeming, doing a 9to5 work and all else we do as humans, has in itself, the Fight Club Syndrome trailing it.
Life is challenging and that shouldn't stop you from striving to win!
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