Let me tell you a story…
There is an old village story about two farmers during a season of great famine.
The first farmer, afraid of tomorrow, locked his barns. He saw his neighbors starving and kept all the grain for himself. He didn’t starve, but he definitely became selfish. By the time the famine ended, he had enough except for who to call friends. He was all by himself.
The second farmer, who was a kind guy, went the other way. He saw the hardship and opened his barns. He made sure that the children, the elders, and the travelers had food. When he ran out of food, he did the unthinkable: he gave away his seed yams, the special roots meant for next year’s planting.
Everyone in the village thought he was a saint. But when the rain came back, he had no seeds left. He went too far in sacrificing himself and messed up his own future. He became a burden to those he had helped.
This brings us to a quiet but profound truth: A wise person avoids extremes in both bad deeds and good deeds. Life is balance.
From childhood, my elders taught me to avoid the extremes of unacceptable behavior. The consequences are obvious. But no talk about the extreme of “goodness”. And this is far more dangerous because it disguises itself as virtue.
It feels good to give a lot, even if it’s hard, and to work hard for your family. It’s sweet how you always give in to keep things calm in the relationship. But giving too much without limits can totally wreck you. If you are super ambitious without breaks, it leads to burnout. If you tolerate everyone’s faults too much, you are betraying what you believe in.
When you over-water a plant because you love it, you drown its roots. The intention is pure, but the result is still fatal.
Today, take a quiet look at your life. Are you hoarding your energy, or are you giving away your seed yams? Are you letting your desire to be a “good” person blind you to the fact that you are running on empty?
You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you cannot harvest from an empty field. The middle path isn’t selfish; it is sustainable. Find your balance.
Keep building. Until tomorrow.
Oluboba Ayodeji