The Fruit Seller and The Treadmill Guy

Dear Friend, Let me tell you a story of the man who always admired the ‘guy’ on the treadmill from the gym opposite his Fruit shop, every day he would sell fresh fruit to this ‘guy’ and watch how fit and structured his body was, from treadmills to different exercise postures, the ‘guy’ had thick muscles and apparently a strong physique, he kept admiring him till one day he asked a question by saying “Hey son, how old are you, you look young everyday” The ‘guy’ was confused but smiled and replied to the man that he was 47 in July, the fruit seller man disagreed, saying that it was impossible being that he just clocked 49 a few days ago and looked like the guys father. He apologized for calling him son and went further to ask him what he did to get his body and health to the stage where he could jog in the morning to the gym and jog back home, emphasizing that he would never try it because he would faint, was plump and had a blood pressure issue. The man from the gym told him not to worry that even if he could not gym for now, a good diet could start the trick, he had fruits all this while, but he wasn’t eating enough, he wasn’t doing the routine everyday fruit journey, he had failed to incorporate it in his life and there he was, admiring from a distance, no treadmill and no fruit.

It is really not about the treadmill or fruit today, but about what you have around you that you have failed to make proper use of, its about how your goals and aspirations have been stuck with viewing and admiring others from a distance without actually realizing that you have what it takes to make things work.

You probably have the talent to do certain things, they stare you in the face but you are fine with looking at others, you are great with helping others achieve their dreams which is not bad, but what of you? You may be decaying in health just like the Fruit seller man, he was unhappy that he could not jog or do physical exercises because he was plump and would have a heart attach if he tried to, he sold fruits every day to people who wanted to live healthy lives, but he didn’t eat fruits; maybe not enough. He had it all, the resources to at least stay healthy but he was not using it, not everyone can be super fit or slender or have the perfect physique but he didn’t even have good health, yet it was right in front of him.

Most people stare at the treadmill all day, without touching it, without making use of it, it could be that talent you have to succeed but you have refused to get up from the slumber and improve it or expand it, it could be your purpose on earth, what are you doing with the tread mill in your life.

One of the reasons why I like the idea of a tread mill is because of its synonymous relativity to successive efforts, routine and usual habits. It simply means consistency and persistence, it means that nothing is easy but with successive efforts and hard work, with the right push, every day, and at any time, you can be what you want to be.

It is a tread mill mindset.

I was once tired of writing for people because I thought not much people appreciated the type of writings I did, at a point I felt like quitting, some people wanted to use me, to use me without paying me, to feed off my intellect, to distract me from what I was meant to do and be, I got tired eventually. I would write and only read to myself and my family. I would not say I was a writer or that I could write a poem about someone in a standing of 5 minutes of pleasantry exchange. I almost gave up. The process got difficult and I saw it all fading away, my passion and aspirations, I would admire from afar, just like the fruit seller man, but I would not put out anything or tell anyone anything, so I focused on something differently that apparently was to whirl away time and had no proper functionality of my personality. I continued to deceive myself that the world was not ready for a writer like me, I laugh now as I write these words, its quite funny now, I kept talking about beautiful writers and reading beautiful and non-beautiful books and poetry, the ones I felt sold rather because of name or the ones that didn’t have enough appealing story; at least to me.

But what exactly was I doing, feeding off others, dreaming afar and setting a distance in my career, fading away the talent and drowning it till I woke up from the slumber and took a bright step forward.

It was never an immediate thing, it was a process of reading stuff like this, listening to people who had something to say on self-growth, and also being blessed by family and friends who hyped the hell out of me most times. The ones who said; keep writing, people should see this! Oh my God, what you said now should be a quote! Mandy, can you put this out, I know we are just chatting in the Dm but the world needs to hear this! Sibi, develop this content, its beautiful!

These kinds of words fashioned me today, to pick up myself and do what I had in me, the talent and passion to write, to fill the void left by blank papers, I began to do what I always had the interest for, knowing that my writing had an audience, its own audience, I surely didn’t need everyone to relate so what was the harm trying. I certainly didn’t relate to every writer’s work.

You can be like me now, you can make changes today that doesn’t keep you staring at the tread mill but really working it, you can do the things you know how to do and stop waiting for approval or stop viewing and admiring the same thing in others from a distance.

So, dear friend, would you be lovely enough to sit and redefine your choices today and what you have in you, fine tune it and create a voice in it. If you love baking, think of a headline that says; best cake in the world made by a home baker mum or if you like cooking, think of the number of streams you can have on YouTube for just teaching people food recipes, if you have a passion for hair or beauty, think of the headline; Beauty expert and bridal hair stylists hits stellar record with prime-time magazine cover.

You need to pay me for this, I just became your hype person; well, I have always been.

Finally, you can stop staring and start being the reason for the stare. I have also added the podcast of this newsletter beneath just for you, you will find it soothing and fun to listen to.

Kindly share this newsletter, like and comment and keep the energy going.

Till next time dear,

Warm Regards
Amanda Sibi.