Today I like to start by saying life is 30% who you are and 70% what others think you are. Seeing yourself as a good person is your opinion, others opinion about you will determine how they react to you and there's little or nothing you can do about it. Being a mischievous child, I've often gotten away with a lot of things because everyone thought I was a good and quiet boy. Oh yeah I was quiet, but good would depend on the scenario 😂. My very close friends knew me as the viper, while everyone else knew me as the church boy. Not as though I was trying to hide my identity, being the church boy was all part of my mischievousness. Today I can only look back and smile at the things I got away with, like how I beat up one of my seniors that earned me the name viper…
With all I did I was never caught red handed, for the seniors beating, he deserved it for being a bully, and also sent messages to his classmates who wanted to retaliate but thought I was in a cult. So yeah public image matters a lot. Recently I had to get some official paperworks that would clear me for service (NYSC), and I saw a lot of people bribing their way to make things easier for them. I thought about it for a moment and decided not to. Not because I wasn't having the financial capacity to do so, nor was it because I was scared of what could be the outcome but because of the reputation I have built for myself in the long run. All through my school days I have never cheated in an exam, and had only bribed a lecturer once and that was because he made it compulsory for passing his course during my early days when I wasn't familiar with how the school system worked.
Later in life I decided to have a code that I have been living by, I wouldn't want to have to cheat my way to get things done, instead I would let it go seeing nothing is compulsory except life is involved. With this code I have been able to live a life that has made me distinct around my peers. There's a way everyone sees me, not as a pastor but as someone they can trust to do what is right. I hope to continue living like that because I know a time would come, the reputation I've built for myself as a youth would be needed for my verdict. During my secondary school days, I had a reputation of breaking girls' hearts. At one point girls wouldn't say yes to me because they were scared their hearts would be broken. And even when I was ready to change it was hard for them to see me for who I was trying to become.
This is why I decided that when I turned on a new leave, there was no going back. I would do well to keep on making my reputation good. Not in pretense, but try to be someone that I can be proud of. I've made mistakes along the way, and would continue making mistakes because I'm human. But I will never let those mistakes define me, but will ensure that I strive to change the narrative and keep my reputation so everyone sees I'm just a guy trying to do the right thing and would always be that guy. Even when I make mistakes, I would continue trying to fix them so those around me would see I'm not invincible, I won't brag about things I've done and haven't done, but will try to be the man that would keep doing good.
