The Sunday Mail
Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
Greatness is moving from failure to failure without losing your stand and tenacity. You grow and move forward when you dance with elephants, face your reality and take your stand. Run towards your purpose and not away from your problems. Face the brutal realities but do not stop standing and moving.
Do not downgrade your dream for greatness because you see fearful obstacles and your reality is too scary. Instead take a stand, upgrade your conviction and muster your faith to match your destiny of greatness.
Your growth is embedded in your stand. When others are running, take a stand. When others are retreating, repeat your affirmations and keep standing. Obstacles are the scary things that you see when you take your eyes off your goal, stop thinking and start imagining dangers that may not exist.
In 1927, Max Ehrmann blessed the world with his writing of the Desiderata – Desired Things. The Desiderata is a stand and posture that you choose to take in the midst of the chaos and turbulence of life. The Desiderata reads:
“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy
I would dare add, strive to stand and keep standing in the face of challenges and storms.
What is fear doing to you?
Sometimes fear takes grip. Fear of losing face, fear of losing control, fear of dying, fear of the future, fear of brewing a storm or fear of taking a stand, fear of people. Fear is not a friend but a hard and tormenting monster. Fear torments and tears the ligaments of hope and faith. Fear is only real in the mind. This is where it finds a willing host and channels dark thoughts and toxicity into the body. When fear is faced with a resolute stand it disappears. Fear hates the light and the force of truth. Truth sets free and anything that is in the dark will always have a sting of fear. Take your stand and stop fearing shadows and running away from them.
The story of taking a stand
She was an Olympic gold and bronze medalist and the pride of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. She was American and she never thought she would be found out. She had pride and she had glory, she was winning. Her name was on everyone’s lips and the sports press hogged her. She had to take a stand, face reality and grow stronger. A 35 year-old mother of three and a wife. To document her stand and journey, she wrote a book entitled: “On the Right Track.”
At first glance you would think the book is about how to win gold, achieve greatness in the Olympics of Life or How to Achieve the so-called American Dream. No! In the book she chronicles her life since pleading guilty in October 2007 to lying to federal investigators looking into drug use among athletes.
In December 2007, the International Olympic Committee stripped her of her three gold and two bronze medals that she won in Sydney, Australia seven years earlier. Subsequently she served a six-month prison sentence in 2008; during which she spent more than a month in solitary confinement after fighting another inmate.
After facing her issues and herself, she has grown stronger in spirit and become a giant. She has returned to her first love, sport, but this time with a new stand, attitude and message:
“The most important thing I learned was how important faith is, how important it is to hold on to something, when literally there is nothing but walls around you.” Jones continues and says: “I’ve been able to go through all that, and now I’m heading back up the ladder toward success.” Stand up and do not quit the path to greatness.
Jones publicly denied for years that she used steroids. After coming to terms with this and rising from denial she faced her demons and now writes: “Yes, I took a performance-enhancing drug, and I can’t go back and undo any of it. What happened, happened. I’m not holding anyone responsible for the fact that I’m the one who put it in my body. Nobody forced me.” That is a statement of strength, knowing you are responsible and choosing to take responsibility.
You cannot change the past but at any time you choose, you can take a new stand that changes the future. Standing for something bigger, noble and great takes a determined resolve.
Marion Jones, instead of being killed by confronting her reality, has taken a new stand for true greatness. She now teaches people about her life lessons and shares her story. Her test has now become a testimony. She is flourishing when the experiences of her life should have floored her. She is singing a new song despite the sting of life lessons. And she does not need to act it out any more and live a phony and empty life.
Jones challenged me to the core when she said: “I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve come home, and I want to help people not make the same mistakes in their lives.”
This is a stand for true greatness. Whatever you face can be overcome. Whatever comes your way, take a stand.
Committed to your greatness
Milton Kamwendo
◆ Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com.
