Pressures From My Guardians Scare Me…

Dear Agatha,

First I want to thank you for the wonderful things you do for people through your columns.

My problem has to do with the pressures I am being subjected to by my guardians. My mother died when I was an infant and my father lost his job. I have older stepbrothers and sisters; my mother was the second wife.

Unfortunately there is nothing much to write home about my siblings. The boys are all like my father, jobless and of no good while the only girl is morally bankrupt.

My guardians are expecting so much from me, a situation that is making me very scared of the future. I don’t want to end up like my father or brothers.

Please how do I avoid being like other members of my family?

Troubled Boy.

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Dear Troubled Boy,

First by having a clear vision of what you want in life. For instance, where would you want to be in the next couple of years? You must have a development schedule to enable you plan your life.

It doesn’t matter if you are unable to meet the schedule you have set for yourself or not, what matters is that you have set in motion the wheel of your self-actualisation as a man.

To help you succeed and avoid the mistakes of your father and brothers, be close to God and have the enabling faith in Him, the kind that has the potency of changing things to favour you where others failed.

This kind of faith doesn’t happen without you first knowing the kind of God you serve. You must know the awesomeness of your God to appreciate the kind of things He can achieve in your life.

From this early, learn how to surrender to Him in all things because that is the only way you can achieve the impossible and stand tall where those before you have failed in the family.

As for your guardians, while you must never do anything to make them regret taking you in, make them aware that you are not in the position to meet all their expectations. Given the fact that they brought you up, they should exercise confidence in their training, they must believe in those qualities they planted in you to succeed in life.

Whatever happens refused to be pushed into a situation you don’t want, and always put God first in whatever you do, because it is the only way you can succeed.

Good luck.