No Pacifiers

Most babies have sturdy sucking impulse. Beyond feeding, sucking often has a soothing, calming effect for these cuties. A pacifier might soothe a fussy baby, offer temporary distraction or even help a baby fall asleep so most parents have pacifiers to offer.  But when the baby is beyond doubt hungry, you can be sure the pacifier would not pacify any longer.

I was watching a little boy recently, it was obvious the cries from him are basically of hunger pangs but his care-giver thought otherwise and offered him a pacifier, the boy sucked for what seemed like 2 minutes and gave a squeal; I guess the boy discovered he was being deceived.

My life coach wants to change his car, he had always wanted a particular brand that he kept talking about, for some reasons he has not been able to get the car, but I watch him reject every other brand, he insists that only his desired brand could satisfy his craving. He wants no alternatives!

That got me thinking; I began to think about the number of times I have settled for something that is not “it”, (where “it” = desired longing).  And I concluded, it was either the desire “to have” or “be” that I had, was not as strong as hunger pangs or never existed in the first place. It could also mean that every other thing life threw at me was good enough to pacify me (that doesn’t sound too smart though).

So this is what I do now, I analyze my desires; do I really want this? What can I do to get it or get there? Is it worth it? I also think about alternatives- the pacifiers and tag them distractions to getting the main deal, not minding the soothing effects, and then I go towards my goal.

I wish I could say I always run towards my goal, I do sometimes, then walk or even stroll but I have vowed never to stop. Running becomes easier when I think about the end, so I have also decided to keep the picture of the end close so I can go on motivated.

Ask yourself how many times life has handed you pacifiers and you took them instead of the main deal.  We all still come around to being hungry after a while of sucking on the pacifiers, don’t we?

Then, can we also apply this to our nation? When next our “leaders” offer us pacifiers to soothe our hunger for good governance and accountability, can we adamantly refuse it like a hungry baby would have resisted a pacifier?

The future starts with you sticking to your dreams and working on achieving it and the future is now!