What image does the word “playground” evoke? Children having fun? Laughter? Slides? If those were pictures that propped up mentally then we share similar thoughts. This article, however, is going to delve into a different kind of playground; one where a delicate move has more consequences than a coin-sized cut on your knee. We’re going to dig into the playground of a young activist: me. Who am I? A young person prepared to improve the world I live in through my actions and words, but most often actions. In my journey (which started not too long ago), I have learnt valuable lessons that if I had known before may have propelled me to achieving my goals more effectively. As a youth activist, here is how I survived in my playground.
Playground Slide- A playground slide usually has two sides to it: the ladder and the actual slide where one can gracefully slide or fall off, if careless. In the beginning of projects, it is easy to be filled with enthusiasm to the brim. However, when challenges come knocking on the door, sometimes we recoil-enthusiasm steadily declining. I discovered that to consciously sustain the level of enthusiasm and passion, I needed to keep my vision/targets in mind. Sean R Covey, puts it succinctly. Always “begin with the end in mind.” That way I find that you’ll have a steady sliding experience!
Swing- This spectacular playground tool has a support system for our hands and behind but not our back. We have to thrust ourselves forward to be able to start the swing. When it is in motion, we still need to keep pushing back and forth to ensure we are still moving. Similarly, the oscillations of our projects need to be kept constant. Sometimes we may fall behind in our plans but we need to hold on to the ropes to keep from falling. Our ropes can be our faith, our team-members or encouraging words from our supporters.
Merry-go-round – Instead of focusing on the fact that Merry-go-rounds take you in circles, I’ll zero in on what happens when we go too fast on the merry go round. At the expense of outstanding work, in a hurry to achieve a target, we tend to settle for mediocrity. We realise from the merry go round that when we’re in too much of a hurry sometimes, we fall of especially if we are not holding on tightly to our support systems.
Seesaw: - Finally, people think that to create global change one needs to wield some level of power, usually political. Day in and day out I’m discovering that it is a false premise to base inaction on.”Oh when I get into government, I’ll impact the nation”. The political power does help...in some cases but is not essential to solve problems. We should be our own problem-solvers. It helps the nation to stay above the surface of the water.
So here you have it! A few lessons on how I survived on the playground! I hope they were helpful.
SEDINAM NANA AMA WORLANYO
FINAL THOUGHTS: THE PLAYGROUND.
Sedinam is the winner of the 2013 Zonta Award and a student of Swarthmore College, Class of 2017.
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