THE GIFT (from My Father!)
I was excited but for the greater part,
I felt a sense of relief - I had "escaped."
My father calmly looked at me and said;
"You could have done better."
I was shocked and it hurt me quite deeply.
Almost 20years later, I can still feel the pain:
"What did it really take to satisfy this perfectionist of a man I had the greatest "misfortune" to call my father?" the stubborn teenager in me wondered.
Yet with those 5 words,
He gave me the greatest Gift and changed my life forever.
I was happy because I had "escaped" failure.
But life is not about "escaping".
You can not live your life in "escape mode" and expect greatness!
I was happy because I had done "better than most".
Again, others are never the best yardstick of your potential.
You can not run your race while staring at other people's lane.
The "perfectionist" of a man I had the greatest "fortune" to call "my father" knew something extremely valuable.
I learnt that one of the biggest tragedy in life is not knowing your potential.
- what you can do, how far you can go, how high you can fly and how deep you can dig.
Life is a pursuit of potential and a realisation of dreams.
Without knowing your potential, we limit and waste its meaning.
You give away the immense power of saying "NO".
- NO, I deserve better than this!
- NO, I can do better than this!
You take whatever is in front of you;
And risk not only accepting, but celebrating mediocrity.
You rob yourself of excellence;
And others of inspiration.
You sabotage GREATNESS,
As poured within you by your maker.
"The perfectionist of a man I had the greatest fortune to call my father"....was actually right!
Truly speaking,
I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER.
He gave me THE GIFT of Truth,
And the courage to face it.
He gave me THE GIFT of "Self Belief",
He believed I could do more.
And each day, I choose to believe him.
He opened my eyes to see,
What he saw when he looked at his son.
I was happy to be good enough,
But good enough is not good at all.
Before you stop, ask yourself;
"Can I do more and better than this?"
I made myself this promise:
"LET NO MAN/WOMAN EVER TELL ME THAT I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER OR MORE AND BE RIGHT!"
Hope you can promise yourself this as well.
And receive a Gift from my father.
Thank you dad.
MHSRIP.
