The One Eyed Man

Another Sunday guys, I skipped last week but I am here now. This post is something I feel we all need to read and we all might be guilty of what I am about to talk about and it is only normal, we are human.

Growing up in an African home, you get accustomed to the use of proverbs. It is almost impossible to have a conversation with your Nigerian parent without them chipping in one or two proverbs either emphasizing a point or giving advise but one proverbs that stands out to me is (This is not an African proverb);

In the land of the blind; The one eyed man is king

There are many views and explanations on this particular proverb, one explained it as; Someone with limited abilities or opportunities is dominant over, and considered special by, those who have even fewer abilities and opportunities; the value of any ability depends on its prevalence. Another explanation was; In difficult situation in which someone with only a few skills is in a better position and more successful than those people who have none.

As much as the above explanations are good and very true, I feel there are different angles to this. They say with a few skills you have better chances than those that have none. I feel we easily get comfortable with that position we find ourselves and sometimes all it takes to realize this is getting out of our comfort zone.

Sometimes the one eyed man just wants to be in the land of the blind, sometimes the one eyed man would prefer everyone to be blind just to keep his crown. There is always that day another eye will open or a man with two eyes will enter the kingdom and now what will the one eyed man do? will he embrace change and get better or will he find another group of blind people?

This does not have to do with irritability but the fact that the human mind most times would rather remain where it feels it has the most value which might not sound like a problem but after a few years it becomes one. Remember that we don’t grow when things are easy but when we face challenges.

Mentally, I stepped out of my comfort zone after I moved. The first few months were quite tough, most times I found myself in the midst of professionals, I went from leading conversations to keeping quiet, I went from a “Hey that is Oscar” to “What is your name?” riding this wave has had it’s ups and downs but I will say this entire experience was worth it.

I learned a lot by keeping my head down and taking notes and I watch myself keep evolving. Being good at what you do or having expert skills is a golden goal but most times the quality of your skill set is relative to those around you which I think is absolutely wrong but that is the world we live in. I will not go on about how I had to unlearn and relearn but all I can say is that there is always more work to do and there is always that extra mile. The quality of the skill you offer is not relative to anything but what you offered yesterday, that should always be your benchmark.

If you are reading this just know you are doing great and if you feel you are exceptional or the best, change crowds and make it a thing. If you are the smartest one in the room then you are in the wrong room.

This is where we end today’s post, I had a funny week last week hence my not delivering but it won’t happen again, I hope. Next week we will talk about the three months gap in the blog.

I gotta run now 🙂