CREATIVE NON-FICTION

The A-Z I Should Have Learned As A Child

TO NURTURE LIFE AND FUEL THE MUSE

It all started with a simple question from my ten-year-old nephew, Tade. His brown, inquisitive eyes, always hidden behind books and magazines that are way above his age, pinned accusingly on me one sunny day as I sauntered in from my morning run.

“What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were my age?”.

I was taken aback but not wholly, having been familiar with his precociousness. Cornered, I sunk into the cushion beside him and began speaking.

One hour later, my head buzzing with unsaid words, I hurried to my laptop and made this list of timely and timeless truths I had come to embrace over the years.

Here’s a caveat to the reader …

Some of these lessons might seem like clichés.

You are right. They are.

I encountered them in books and heard them in sermons and podcasts.

Others might be entirely new to you because I learned them at the feet of my mentor and as I sojourned through life.

Yet,

each is a time-tested and trusted truism that I now carry with me on life’s journey, like a tattoo permanently on my skin. Or how did the bible put it? They are forever written on the tables of my heart.

As a child, my teachers taught me that Alphabet A — Z was to identify objects, but I wish they had taught me something else. Something like this.

Something like what these other Alphabets, which I learned as I embarked on the journey to identify myself. Enough of this rambling; let us dig in already.

A — Access is better than ownership.

B — Becoming is more valuable than knowing.

C — Character shines brighter than skill or talent.

D — Death and life coexist; they are sides of the same coin.

E — Education goes beyond schooling.

F — Failure is a part of the journey.

G — Greatness must be nurtured.

H — Habits can make or mar you.

I — Information can lead to transformation or deformation.

J — Jobs provide, life’s work fulfills.

K — Knowledge empowers, wisdom transforms.

L — Little efforts lay the foundation for significant results.

M — Mentorship is the bedrock of future leadership.

N — Nature is the greatest teacher.

O — Openness is a gift to oneself.

P — Passion is proof of your desire.

Q — Quality people recognize quality in you.

R — Right and wrong are subjective; perspectives change with time and place.

S — Spirituality transcends religion; it’s self-awareness.

T — Teachers appear when you’re ready to learn.

U — Understanding sets you apart from your peers.

V — Values define a well-bred individual.

W — Wishes alone won’t change your world; hard work will.

X — X-ray your truths; they evolve with time.

Y — ’Youth’ isn’t limited by age; your mind defines your age.

Z — Zeal is a double-edged sword, it could be wrong and right.

Using my writing as an example, I have always wished to be a ‘good writer’ but I realized that wishing couldn’t give me what I wanted. So I had to put in hours of work, find myself a mentor, and also become open-minded to constant and never-ending improvement.

Today I am better than I was yesterday and I am certain I will be better than I am today when tomorrow comes.

You have read twenty- six of the many lessons I have learned in three decades. I know you also have similar lessons. Maybe you were unconscious about them like I was before my nephew gave me a figurative whack on the head. Here’s my whack to you. I don’t expect it to hurt.

Share these lessons with me in the comment section.