LACKING IN THE MIDST OF PLENTY: A MINDSET

 

THIS STORY WILL CAUSE A PARADIGM SHIFT FOR YOU:

It is the story of how I lacked in the midst of plenty. Have you ever looked back at your life and realized you have lived little? This is my story.

I was born in a middle-class family, we were never poor, but we always managed until it became our lifestyle. I remembered when I was in primary four and five before I moved to secondary school; I was always given ten naira so I could buy snacks for my siblings and I during the break period. I usually buy one small round bread that was sold for ten naira at that time and share it into three, for myself, my brother and my sister. At a point, other pupils started laughing at us for always buying bread. Now that I think of it, I see that my parents could afford to give us ten naira each and we can afford to buy other types of snacks, but I guess we were being raised to manage.

When I was in JSS 2, the state government schools went on a strike that lasted more than six months. My mother suggested to my father that I be taken to a private secondary school, but my father said it was too expensive. So I never dreamt of going to a private school anymore because I believed my parents couldn’t afford it. But now that I think of it, we would have been able to afford it if we had wanted to.

When I was in SSS 1, it happened that my school didn’t have a mathematics teacher. I started failing mathematics and my father was annoyed with me because I was doing great in mathematics when I was going to school from home, why fail now that I live in the school with no house chores? But now that I think of it, the right remedy would have been to change to another school, but I never suggested that because at that point, I have believed we couldn’t afford it.

After high school, I decided to study pharmacy, but as soon as I didn’t get admission into pharmacy the first year, I gave up because I wouldn’t want my parents to keep wasting the money that I have believed they don’t have. Though now that I think of it, I believe I never desired to study pharmacy intensely. It was a dream I could give up, so it wasn’t really a desire: Watch this video on YouTube to see what I mean. Then I went to the State University to study biology and I lived in the school hostel where eight students share one room. Though the room was small, we still shared it with our friends, so sometimes; we will be eleven or twelve in a room. The toilets were bad. The bathroom was inaccessible, we took our baths outside. That was how I lived for 4 years.

Rude awakening!!!

In my fourth year in the university, I lost all my savings to the bank. This savings was made up of money that I painfully saved as a result of managing. So all the pains I put myself through in order to squeeze out some money to save went down the drain. I guess that was when my rude awakening started. I realized that there is a need for balance. I should spend my money in such a way that anyone I have left is not as a result of food I didn’t eat or a need I didn’t meet.

Nothing changes until a decision is made!!!

When I went for National Youth Service Corps, I decided I was going to break out of the pattern of being enclosed in an uncomfortable space. I was going to get my own room, and I did. I decided that I was going to make my own money and I am not going to let that be a mere dream like studying pharmacy was; it is an intense desire that must become reality. I love to think I have broken out of the scarcity mindset but, maybe I haven’t stopped managing because I remember some actions I took that were clearly not actions a person with an abundant mindset will take. Stuff like:

  • Telling hubby to buy a cheaper baby food
  • Letting my daughter wear oversized shoes because I already bought it, until years later when I went to buy a new one and realized it was cheaper than I imagined
  • Worrying “to the point of depression” about how to pay for my MSc project
  • Extremely pricing foodstuff and asking for change from foodstuff sellers until they started calling me ‘stingy’
  • Taking the expensive jewelry I sell to a thrift market
  • Going into mediocre businesses
  • Settling for teaching high school when I knew it wasn’t exactly what I wanted
  • Backing a baby and jumping in and out tricycles when I could afford to hire one
  • Wearing shoes I don’t like anymore instead of buying new ones
  • Always complaining about irrelevances

WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?

Looking back at all I have been through, I can only tell you one thing: in all you are getting, get an ABUNDANCE MINDSET. It is an abundance mindset that will take you from looking for a helper to becoming a helper; from looking for a job to becoming an employer; from looking for sponsorship to becoming a sponsor; from teaching a class to owning a school. May God open your eyes and give you the grace to enjoy the abundant life Christ brought us.

ASSOCIATION

If you discover you have a scarcity mindset, consider changing the people, places and things you associate with. If you keep moving with people with a scarcity mindset, it will be very difficult for you to escape from thoughts of lack and scarcity. Move out of your environment sometimes and visit places where you will be challenged to think different. See movies that show cultures and lifestyles you are not familiar with. Do things that expand your knowledge. READ MORE.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude is one major thing that takes you out of a mindset of scarcity into a mindset of abundance. Until you stop looking at what you do not have and start looking at what you have, you will not live to the fullest. We spend too much time looking for more, instead of appreciating what we already have. Focusing on lack multiplies scarcity because what you focus on will surely grow; decide to start focusing on the things you are thankful for. I am grateful for a lot of things: the love I receive from my husband, my children, my entire family and friends; the gift of a reading culture my father gave me; the life skills I learned from my mother (loving, praying, cooking); the gift of a sound mind that God has blessed me with. I have seen these things multiply in my life as I focus on them, that is why I recommend gratitude as an antidote for most of life’s issues.

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”oprah winfrey

 


 

 

I have a gift for you. It is a book that helps you renew your mind affirming what God says about you. Use the link below to download a free copy.

FRUIT OF CHANGE

 See other books by Kaycee Bliss

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