Connect with us

Features

Eva Bozimo: Nurturing Gifts From a Young Age

Published

 on

I was watching an interview with T.D Jakes and Steven Furtick at his church, and it was extremely insightful. T.D Jakes is one of the best preachers of this generation, an author and a tv producer. It was an open discussion about his new book titled “Soar” and he spoke about identifying the seeds God has planted in each of us. His family was about to take a portrait but there was a problem with the camera flash, and his granddaughter who is 6 years old ran upstairs to get a flashlight. She quickly ran back downstairs with the flashlight in her hands and said “take the picture”. So he says to her “don’t you want to be in the picture?” and she says “no, I don’t want to be in the picture I want to hold the light”. So he told her mom immediately “put her in management and leadership classes” this child is a problem solver. Her instincts in the situation were to solve the problem, and directing that child to towards an area where you can cultivate what God has put in them is very important. Her mom could’ve easily missed it, but it took someone, her granddad to observe and notice her distinctive feature.

This struck a chord in me because a lot of young adults today don’t know their strengths because their parents weren’t paying attention to their unique abilities. It is extremely important to study and observe your children as they grow up, because that is when they are the truest to themselves. There is no conformity and no pressure yet, to fit into society’s standards or anyone’s box. As a child you’re naturally free and in tune with your self.

In secondary school, we all know those people who wanted to be prefects of the school so bad. I mean most people wanted to be but some people wanted it at all cost. The idea of them holding a cane and having authority over everyone, got them really excited. It doesn’t take a psychic to identify that they love power. They love to have control and to be respected and would thrive in a leadership environment.

I have a friend who loves to fix things. If he came to visit you and something was broken or out of place, he’d naturally gravitate towards there and start to sort it out without even bringing it to your notice. His natural instinct is to put things back together and that kind of person will thrive so much in engineering.

Tiffany Haddish is an African American comedian, she spoke in an interview about, growing up in different foster homes and getting into a lot of trouble as a kid and being bullied a lot. She was skinny, so her coping mechanism would be to tell jokes and her bullies will find her so funny and eventually become friends with her. Now she tells jokes to millions of people for a living.

T.D Jakes has spoken a lot about always telling his mom stories as a child, while she was cooking or doing chores. hhe would always tell her a bunch of stories and she always was entertained by him because she could tell he was a good storyteller and she knew he was going to be a speaker.

When I was a child I used to organize events with my friends; we would invite all the parents and adults in the estate where we lived and charge them a fee to come and watch our plays. We would act out dramas and conduct cheerleading dances we had rehearsed to semi perfection. It would be so intense, competitive and interesting the adults would actually enjoy themselves. This was probably a moment for anyone to highlight how creative and enterprising `we were and point us towards that direction. As a teen I was in the science department in secondary school but everything I love to do now and was born to do belong in the arts.

In this part of the world we need proper guidance counselors in secondary schools that help children figure out what they’re great at. The ages 10-20 is the best time to figure out what you like and dislike because then you’re still living in a bubble. No societal expectations have been placed on you yet so you’re at your core, pure and untouched. That’s when you’re the truest to yourself.

If I could advise any young person I’d definitely tell them to focus on the things they like to do as a person and the subjects that resonate with them. Also, parents need to pay attention to their children’s differences.

The older generations were products of their environment so most of them didn’t know any better on how to direct their kids to their paths. It doesn’t always have to be a parent to highlight a quality that stands out in a child, it could be a friend, a sister, anyone close enough to notice you have something that stands out a little out of the ordinary. There are people that have dormant seeds inside them and if they get in the right environment will turn into things you’ve never seen before. Even as adults there are still seeds inside of you that haven’t tapped into yet. There are books, businesses, companies, drama, art, ideas waiting to be birthed by you and you haven’t given yourself the opportunity to burn the plough.

It is never too late to figure out what makes you tick. Just keep trying out new things and exploring different things but most importantly pay attention to your instincts, listen to your spirit because that is definitely where you need to go.

Photo Credit: Riccardo Lennart Niels Mayer | Dreamstime.com

Eva Bozimo is the editor-in-chief of the life style site candid lips blog. She’s a freelance writer and can be reached for writing articles for magazines, blogs, script writing and reviews. She created her platform to raise the consciousness level of people and to spread positivity. Also to recognize the challenges we face everyday, especially in Africa. Find her on Instagram: @Eva.chanel/@candidcouch Twitter: @EvaChanel Youtube: Candid couch

Advertisement

Star Features

css.php