Have the Mindset of a Flyer!

An exciting characteristic of eagles is their movements – the way they get from point A to point B.

Most feathered beings fly. Eagles are no exception: they can fly, and everyone knows that. However, whenever these birds are mentioned, we rarely hear the word fly or the phrase flying eagle referencing their movements. As far as everyone is concerned, eagles don't fly. They soar.?

Definition of Flying: "Moving or able to move through the air with wings."

Definition of Soaring: "Rising high in the air. Increasing rapidly above the usual level."

When I was eight years old, I was fostered by a maternal uncle and his wife. Lagos, where my foster parents took me, was miles away from the village I grew up: about a twelve or 16-hours journey - depending on the bullheadedness of the "luxurious" bus you were travelling in at the time or the kamikaze-tendencies of its driver. Soon after my arrival, a woman visitor (my uncle's wife's friend) commented that I seemed to be a 'remarkably-bright child' and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.

"A doctor," I replied with bright-eyed enthusiasm.

My uncle's wife, Aunty, was standing nearby at the time, so I'd looked up, expecting to be patted on the head and told I was a smart girl for knowing what I wanted to be at such an early age. The compliment did not come. Instead, I noticed that Aunty seemed put off by my answer. After the visitor left, she called me to her side.

"What did you say you wanted to be when you grow up again?"

"A doctor," I answered with the same enthusiasm as before.

"A doctor, mmmh, for such an insignificant and worthless little girl, you certainly have grand dreams," Aunty looked at me from head to toe and back again as she said this. From that point on, she did all in her power to ensure I did not become (a doctor or anything else) significant. But the more she tried to make me not become, the more desperate I wanted to become.

?I have told this story a few times, and the long, arduous road I had to travel to prove to Aunty (and to myself mainly) that I wasn't insignificant, worthless and useless, as she called me every single day, several times a day, for almost seven years of my time under her roof. You can read the full, unabridged story in my upcoming books, From Fearful to Fierce and God Does Not Make Stupid.

What made me so determined (some might even call it desperate) to become more than Aunty said I could or had the right to be? What made me think I could become more? More to the point, why was I so sure I was made for more? I was just a little girl, after all. At that age, I did not know my back from my front, so I wasn't super-smart enough to know what I wanted and why I should want it.

The answer to all the questions rested in the knowledge my maternal grandmother had rammed into my head. "God does not make stupid. He made you, so you are not stupid," she assured me when I returned home and began to wonder, after years of abuse, whether I might not actually be worthless, useless and insignificant as Aunty said I was.

Eagles are some of the largest birds on earth. Because of their size, soaring should be a challenging task, as with other large birds. Turkeys, vultures, flamingos, and most other large birds can fly, but not very high because their bulky size frequently hampers them. But not eagles. Though hefty, eagles instinctively understand that they were born to soar despite their ponderous size.

It was this same instinct that made me know I could become. Because I knew I was God's child – and God does not make stupid - it became gradually easy to rise above my uncle's wife's demoting and debilitating words and to believe I wasn't worthless and insignificant, despite her words to the contrary. Knowing made it possible to dream, to aspire to 'fly higher than the usual level,' Aunty deemed fit for someone of my level. ?

The definition of a high flyer is. "Someone who has much ability and a strong wish to be successful." In other words, someone with a strong wish to rise higher than their usual (natural capability) level.

As it turned out, I did not become a doctor, but becoming a doctor was never really the point. The point was about the ability, and the right, to dream. Aspiring to become a doctor, even when I did not fully understand what I was saying, gave me the impetus to go for more than the circumstances around me dictated, according to Aunty's words. That is what giving yourself the free reign to be YOU does – it allows you to rise beyond your physical limitations – above the "usual" expected level.

Giving yourself free rein to be YOU allows you to aspire to become a high flyer, just like eagles.

#BeHighFlyerMinded

#beYOU