Lessons We Learn Along The Way

I recently attended my first live boxing competition. Growing up, I was always captivated by Mike Tyson’s matches and the adrenaline they brought. Watching this match as an adult, however, gave me some deeper reflections on life:

1. Fight for Your Destiny It might sound like a religious cliché, but I was reminded of Matthew 11:12, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” That boxing match was a vivid illustration of this. Life requires us to fight for what we want—nothing comes easy. In two bouts, one featuring male boxers and another with female competitors, the outcome was the same: the fighter on the offensive ultimately won. Neither bout ended with a knockout, but after all nine rounds, the boxer throwing the most punches earned the victory. Life rewards those who take action, not those who merely defend.

2. Never Lose Focus Although we are promised victory in life—because God says we are more than conquerors—we must remain focused. Throughout the match, spectators yelled advice and opinions, but the boxers never lost sight of their opponent. They were locked in on the prize. Similarly, in life, distractions are everywhere. If we lose focus, even when we're ahead, we risk letting setbacks, delays, and stagnation creep in. Just as in boxing, when we lose concentration, our adversary gets an opening to strike. We can’t move forward if we’re stuck dealing with the same obstacles over and over.

3. Confidence is Key One bout featured an older fighter going up against a newcomer. It was the shortest and most surprising match—over in less than five minutes. The older man kept falling out of fear, essentially giving up without being hit. On the other hand, the newcomer, brimming with confidence, dominated. This shows how crucial confidence is in life. Sometimes, it’s not about what you know or even experience—it’s about believing in yourself. When we exude confidence, fear dissipates, and our opponents, or challenges, have no choice but to back down.

I hope these lessons from my time at the match with my best friend resonate with you too.

Xoxo,

Mamatembo Safari

Adulthood

You wake up one day and you realize, if you don't move nothing else moves.  

You need to get out of bed and go to work if you need a paycheck.

You need to pray and connect to the word of God if you need your peace of mind.

You need to nourish your relationships if you need to get anything in return.

You realize, you have a part to play for life to happen.

You don't have the privilege to let things happen, you must do something about it. 

That's when you realize, you have grown. But wait, hasn't this been the case from the day you learned how to bath yourself, make your own breakfast, read and write, and so on and so forth. Life has a way of making us get "there" (wherever ‘there’ is) one step at a time. And where you are now, is a result of the many little steps that you and people around you took to make sure you can handle the journey of adulthood. You have been growing everyday of your life, but you have now become an adult because every little thing that used to happen, has led you to this present moment. So no, you don't have the right to give up, and yes, you can do it. You've been doing it every single day; you just didn't realize it yet. 

You complain, and say life is hard, dealing with things is hard work, but to be honest, it's about you. It's always been about you. How you handled your relationships at school, in your neighborhood and family members all these years has prepared you with skills to handle relationships with your co-workers. The test of how responsible you've been with your school and non-school assignments, is now reflected in your job-related assignments. How you've managed your time between playing, praying, eating, doing your school work, doing your chores, etc. And now, you are a mother or a father - with kids, a job, a spouse, a place of worship, and other responsibilities looking you in the face 24 hours. 

Did you know you've been maturing from the day you were born? Did you allow yourself to let the maturity sink in as you aged, and accept your lot? 

Don't complain, you've been doing this since way back, it was just in smaller doses. Now it's time to look back at how you handled some situations years ago as a teenager, or as a young adult, and see what worked and what didn't work, then ask yourself - will it work this time around? 

Just because you are now a customs clearing agent, or clearing agent to Malawi working for  cargo clearing services (hypothetically) ask yourself, how did you get that job. Did you go to school for it or were you favored because you know the boss? Well, if you went to school for it then use the knowledge you acquired to tackle your challenges. If it is a situation beyond your school knowledge then ask yourself, who did you pray to when you needed help to pass those exams? How about you now get on your knees and pray again? If it is about being overwhelmed, then ask yourself, how did you balance life back in college with 5 to 10 different courses along with midterms and finals? Did you have to prioritize things in your life? How about you do that now as well. 

And  if you never went to school, that's not an excuse. We have successful and well known musicians, actors, writers, painters, photographers, or property agents on social media posting about cars for sale and houses for sale and yet did not graduate from primary school, high school, or college. The challenging question is, what did you learn along the way as you were growing up? Utilize that.

We have been growing up even before we knew it. We just need to be in touch with our past, present and our future to put things into perspective.