Thoughts are Things

What a man thinketh, so shall he be.
Think nothing good can come out of you, well, you will be nothing more than a failure.
Think you can't be anything but successful, trust me, nothing can hold you down.

It wasn't easy being a chubby kid and then the fat girl growing up. I hated it. What did I do? I tried all the unconventional ways of losing the weight, and then the conventional, and when I saw nothing was happening in less than a week, I told myself, "this won't work". I told myself "let me just pretend all the teasing doesn't bother me and live my life". So I did. It wasn't until 8 years ago when I checked my Body Mass Index (BMI) and it showed I was obese (I honestly always thought I was just overweight or fat) that I knew I had to do something. So, I decided, even it takes years, I am going to do this (the conventional way) and I am not going to quit until I like what I see when I look in the mirror. And then I did do it. It's been 7 plus years of me looking fabulous, and I haven't felt better.

After my first degree, I entered an educational reality TV show. I did get that it was for very smart people, and I didn't particularly think I was overly smart, but I decided to try it out. I told myself, "what do you have to lose, but you do have a whole lot to gain should you win". From the thousands that first entered the competition, I was there when we were cut to a little over a hundred. I was still there when we were cut to 25, and then when we were cut to the final 12, I was there. "Yes, I may not be as smart as some of the other contestants, but me too I am smart". That's what I told myself. Week 1 eviction, I stayed. Week 2 eviction, I stayed. Week 3 eviction, I stayed. Ei! I kept staying eviction after eviction. And then we were down to 7 contestants. Then one of the other contestants came up to me and said, "Dentaa, you are the one to watch. A friend called me and said no one is paying attention to you because you don't seem like the one, but you really are. You will catch all of us unaware and win this competition." That was when I started really thinking about what I was doing. That was when I started questioning myself and asking what I was thinking competing with some of the smartest brains in Ghana. That was when I told myself there's no way I can win this. That was when I asked myself what I was thinking entering this competition. That was the week I got evicted.

Thoughts are things. Things don't seem to be going well for you, check your thoughts.
Things are going well for you, keep thinking positive.