Adversity: The Human Test

“The human being does not know how to plan because we lack the ability, capacity or maturity to factor in adversity in their journey.”?—?Tola Alabi

The statement above is credited to my mentor Tola Alabi, who recently spoke to his mentees on why it isn’t necessarily bad that our lives aren’t going according to plan, especially when we have been responsible and diligent in our journey. Over the years, Tola has been consistent in his position of the supremacy of God’s plan over ours and why it is in our best interest to align with God’s plan. However, it was in this recent conversation that I heard him for the first time talk about how we are not well equipped to plan our lives and it revealed another angle to this subject of planning.

Except in extreme psychological and I will even dare say spiritual cases, studies have revealed that we are not capable of hurting ourselves. There is this protective relationship between our brain and our body that ensures the brain sends signals to us when we are approaching anything that can cause us harm. More than a year ago, I witnessed my little nephew inflict body pains on his fingers when he tried closing a drawer, the cry was heartbreaking. However, I noticed that since that incident he is always mindful of the placing of his hands whenever he is using any drawer. If the brain of a two-year-old is this protective, how much more is yours? You stand a better chance of giving someone else a fatal bite than giving yourself, and if you haven’t noticed, we can’t even tickle ourselves. That is how powerful our sense of protection is as humans.

This leads me to agree with Tola when he says we are not capable of factoring adversity into our plans. You may disagree with this statement, especially if you always plan with the worst-case scenario like me. However, even our worst-case scenario is also protective of us. I will ask the same question Tola asked, how many of us factored in heartbreaks, abuse, sudden deaths, accidents, wars, or even genocides in our plans? If we are honest, the answer will be NONE. COVID-19 was a surprise to even the best economic and business analysts in the world. The Jews living in Europe in the 30’s never saw the systematic murder of six million Jews by Hitler’s regime. In Nigeria today, we are mourning the loss of one of our best business minds especially in the banking industry Mr. Herbert Wigwe. Still, I am sure not even in his worst-case scenario did he foresee that he would die alongside his wife and son this soon. In our business plan for Yummie Drop in 2023, we never planned to lose a dispatcher to a fatal accident. I did not plan for the emotional toll that event would take on me as the business leader. For more than a decade now, Nigerians in Northern Nigeria have witnessed the worst acts of violence against humans, from terrorism to ethnic murders and kidnapping. Many families have been forced to flee their homes and live in refugee camps, I wonder if any of them factored these life-altering events into their plans, I don’t think so. We plan to achieve goals while being oblivious to the processes we will have to go through, most times these events end up altering where we end up in terms of goals. When I left the University, I had plans of being a night club owner, being a writer or even Yummie Drop was never in the plan. Events of life led me to where I am today, and it turned out to be a better plan than my own.

It was King Solomon of ancient Israel who said, “A person may have many ideas concerning God’s plan for his life, but only the designs of God’s purpose will succeed in the end.” He clearly understood that though we may have plans, it is God’s design that ultimately succeeds. When it seems, we are not where we planned to be, it may be that we are exactly on the path ordained for us by God. God is wise enough to see the fallacy in our plans, He understands the role shaping adversity plays and why it is not in our best interest to avoid them. Albert Einstein said that adversity introduces a man to himself, without adversity we cannot know who we truly are. If life works exactly as we planned for it, we will reach our goals not battle-tested and without the sustaining character needed to sustain that goal. Aside from the fictional fire benders in the Avatar series, no one loves to play with fire (even those who entertain us with fire dance are well-trained in the art), but we can agree that gold needs fire to be the precious stone it is. Just like the Prophet Jeremiah, I am further convinced that our lives don’t belong to us and we cannot control them. How then can we plan for something we have no control over?

This article is not to encourage people to live their lives without plans, this however is to show you how limited you are in the control of events that shape your lives. However, I am always excited to hear differing opinions.

Peace!