When I won my first sports competition, I was in primary 3 or 4.
Chair racing. I took the first position.
Two little chairs, the task was to make sure they got to the finishing line with you. While standing on one, the other would be thrown forward, so you could deposit yourself on it. The now empty one would then be picked and brought forward again. You continued like this till the finishline. If your foot touched the ground, you got disqualified.
It was so easy for me. Before and during the Inter-house sports, I reached the line easily with a good gap between me and the second position.
Sometimes, during our training, whenever someone fell or missed their step, I would look at them the way most Nigerian lecturers would look at their student. I found it ridiculous. Why couldn't they be smooth? Was it that hard?
Soon, I began seeing chair racing as a child's play- puns just have a way of entering things. I began seeing those who fell from their chairs as not good enough. All because it was easy for me.
Years later, during a university event, after a hard time fighting, I was beaten to the third position in a chess competition. I could easily have gotten no prizable position. It was that challenging for me. But it was quite easy for the guy who took the gold. I could guess how he must have felt beating us all. I had the same feeling years earlier.
At the same time, I began understanding how those boys who fell from their chairs must have felt.
Never underrate what you find easy, some are struggling with it. Don't look down on people who haven't mastered what you have, you can't imagine how hard they're trying to get it too.
Writing hasn't always been this 'easy' for me, so when I see someone who is what I was years ago, I help. I encourage and help them celebrate their milestones. It doesn't matter that the achievement is 'tiny', it shouldn't be looked down upon.
There are things you now find almost effortless, that are still painfully challenging for others, you'll be tempted to look down, and be impatient, and belittle their attainment. Because you've passed that level. Don't.
Allow them their joy. Finding happiness these days, especially here, is not easy. Be ready to cheer them on.
Someone is euphoric because they just got a phone, a pair of shoes, or something you've used and dumped three years ago, and you want to crush and disable them with condescension?
Allow them their joy.
