I THINK I AM A STALKER

Patiently waiting, hoping that every mail that pops in through the mail box will be the long awaited parcel. It was supposed to arrive in 7 days but this was day 9 so I got worried…what could have happened? Wrong address, was the postcode indicated, did the mail come in my absence? So many things ran through my head and while my thoughts paced up and down I heard something drop from the mail box. Wheeww…a sigh of relief, there was my book – “HOW STUPIDITY SAVED MY LIFE” by Okechukwu Ofili. Guess you’re wondering why all the anticipation for just a book, loll…I’ll explain later. Flipping through the pages, I got to the table of contents and page 55 caught my attention - “stalk smart people.”  It dawned on me that very moment that I have been a stalker.

While obtaining my Masters degree in UK, I did a temporary job as a receptionist in one of the corporate firms in Central London. Sitting in the reception is not quite interesting because you get bored being alone since all you do is smile and talk in one position; sometimes I smile till my cheeks start to hurt. During my series of boredom, I became a blog freak; I read at least 7 blogs in a day but had my favourites of which Bella Naija was one of them. One day, I noticed I had read all the stories on her blog except one. Why? I was wondering how stupidity could save someone’s life and so anytime I came across the article I passed it. That faithful day, there’s was absolutely no new story to read and grudgingly I decided to find out what this young man had to say about stupidity. WOW!!! After the first three lines…I became a stalker. Infact, part of my childhood was similar to what I was reading and that got me more interested. When I was done with the little intro of the book I was hooked…I went on facebook to look for the author, (did I find him?) of course I did and that led me to the official website www.ofilispeaks.com. There were so many articles to read, where do I start from? I went to the very last one and read all till I got to the newest post. Next thing I did was to follow on twitter, YES…I admit I am a stalker. Then finally I decided to buy the book and when I saw page 55 “stalk smart people” I started laughing because I understood what he meant.

 Why should you stalk smart people?

My pastor said something on Sunday…”you do not need lesser relationships in your life; it’s either you are pulling somebody up or somebody is pulling you up. You don’t need to pull anyone down or allow someone to pull you down.” And this is absolutely true. So many people aspire to be great and do great things in life but they do not know how to get there. Don’t let anyone pull you down by discouraging you, look for someone to inspire you. When you want to do something or accomplish a task, it is advisable to find someone who has excelled in that same thing and stalk learn from them (by stalking, I don’t mean not giving them breathing space and choking them up with questions and problems to solve); do a research on them and find out how they got to that position.

Social media/networking has become the platform through which information is shared in our world today; twitter, facebook, myspace, digg, blog etc. About 99% of people go on these sites everyday sharing ideas, pictures, news etc.  So who are you following on these sites? Is he/she pulling you up or pulling you down? Are you constantly motivated by them? Which books are you reading? Who are you stalking? Just as your genotype is the genetic make-up of your cell; your way of thinking and reasoning is the intellectual make-up of the information you accumulate. The words you read and hear have a way of influencing your intellect and you need to stick with the right people to get to where you are going…now do you blame me for being a stalker? One day I aspire to be a motivational speaker and after you go to the ofilispeaks website you’ll know why I stalked this author. I may not be where I want to be now but I know I will get there with God by my side and the right set of people on my path.

Little tips: Read books - inspirational, success, public-speaking, your bible. Go out of your comfort zone. You don’t have to read only medical books because you are studying medicine, or accounting books because you’re an accountant. Explore…find out about other areas of life. I am business management consultant but I have taken a law course and currently reading about international relations and politics (thanks to my friend, Ucheoma). And above all, never lose your drive/inspiration…learn to make lemonades out of lemons. Life will always throw things at you, but the beauty of it all is that you step higher after each challenge.

So who are you going to stalk? Welcome, STALKER!