MOVING OUT OF THE SHADOWS ...

WHEN making choices in life – as regards education or career – people often choose the “shadows”, and in the process do not grow.

What I mean is this, people choose an institution to study where they are close to loved ones – or where they will be with friends.

(To be near loved ones is not wrong. I did that once in my life, not to say I regret now. That choice, in fact, pointed me to another important theme which I know saved my life.)

But then, being close to loved ones (e.g. parents, relatives and friends) can keep you in the “shadows”.

You will understand the meaning of shadows if you understand how plants grow.

A plant that needs a lot of sunlight to develop into an adult plant will not grow if it is under the shadow of another bigger plant.

Also, when many plants are lumped up together (e.g. banana shoots growing from the same stump), they will compete for nutrition from the soil that they will not grow up and mature quickly. It is for this reason that farmers dig up the shoots from the parent plant and plant them metres (or even miles) away, free from other towering plants and those that can compete with them for water and minerals in the soil.

  

It is wise to move away from loved ones sometime in your life, to help you grow.

You will grow to look after yourself in every way – from taking care of your laundry to budgeting how much you spend on what.

Another important advantage is that you will learn a lot of new things, good things, new ways of doing something – things that you might not learn, if you remained with your relatives, loved ones and friends.

(PS. I became a boarding student when I was 11 years, 8 months old and for 10 months or more of each year in the next 11 years as a dependent, I spent away from home. I think that has made me think a bit different in life.)