Do Your Best & Forget The Rest…

I’M BACK!!! And this time indefinitely!

As I touched down on November 15th in Toronto, I had to pinch myself; despite all that had    happened,  did I really just complete my full placement? Three months ago it was all a nightmare, but three days ago it was the beginning of a dream. Decked out in my favourite smock – which drew a lot of attention, especially from Chicago’s security – I greeted my parents and headed home, but this time on much different terms. Leaving Ghana was not the end of a journey, but only the beginning of new experiences.. another chapter.

Leaving Ghana was a bittersweet experience; leaving people who made you feel like one of their own wasn’t easy, but at the same time remembering all the great people I have to come back to in Canada was exciting. After my going away party at Soul Train night club – which might I add was OFF THE HEEZY!! – I began doing my rounds of visiting everyone, telling them “This is not goodbye, it’s just see you later.” Even though I would not be seeing any of them for a while, for some reason I knew we had developed a connection that even distance can’t get in the way of. It was a connection of different cultures co-operating, blindness to the colour of our skin, understanding we all face struggles in life, and seeing there’s much more potential to us all than meets the eye. It’s these connections that keep me going, and not the differences we tend to focus on.

Ghana taught me a lot… and I mean A LOT! However, the most important lesson I learnt was to, do your best and forget the rest! A one year placement is not going to get rid of poverty, I get it.. but is that a reason to turn a blind eye. In life we are challenged over and over and over again, and all that life ever asks of us is to give it our all. We may not have control over life, but we always are in control of living. If you want something, you have to go and get it… and you have to be ready to give it all you got!

A few weeks ago I did just that; I applied for GAP Adventures ‘Coolest Travel Intern’ position, which was a worldwide search for adventurous people addicted to travel. Honoured by making the top 11 candidates, a couple of days ago I found out I did not get selected as an intern. For those of you who think this must have brought me down… think again! There were many reasons I applied for the position, and receiving it was just one of them.

As much as I wanted the job, what motivated me in my pursuit of it was to lead by example in making a bold statement to NEVER WASTE AN OPPORTUNITY! I had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Coming from Ghana, where opportunities are far and few between, not applying would have been more negative than all the positives of going overseas. When people think ‘Change the World’ they think they have to on a global scale…. go to Africa, fly to the moon… but what we tend to overlook is that it’s each and every opportunity we embrace that creates the world we live in… that sets the path of history. As we enter a new year I challenge you all to think about what you want in life, and what you need to do to get it. I want you to go beyond material goals like money and fancy cars. I want you to think of the legacy you want to leave behind, and commit to embracing each and every opportunity that presents itself in helping you create it! I want you to try, and if you fail, try again, try harder, fail bigger, and in the end prove that potential you’ve been destined to reach! Just do your best, and forget the rest!

“There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding

and that lost by not trying.”
                                                      ~ Francis Bacon, Sr.