Perspective with Ekerette

You don’t really know what’s inside something until pressure is applied to it.

Take an orange for instance: Sitting on the table, you can describe its color, its shape and its size. But if you want the juice that’s inside it, you have to squeeze it.

And Life works similarly.

Pressure doesn’t always put something inside you.
Sometimes pressure reveals what was already there.
That’s why stressful situations reveal character.

*Pressure reveals your habits.
*Pressure reveals your emotional maturity.
*Pressure reveals your preparation.
*Pressure reveals what you’ve been practicing when nobody was watching.

There’s a famous idea attributed to Aristotle on this topic. Which is “we become what we repeatedly do.”And pressure is often where those repetitions become visible.

When everything is comfortable, almost everyone can appear disciplined, patient and confident. But when circumstances squeeze you, what’s actually inside begins to come out.

So when life applies pressure, don’t only ask:
“Why is this happening to me?”

Ask a better question:
“What is this pressure revealing about me?”

Because most times the purpose of pressure is to bring out the best of you to serve humanity.

You are the prize 🏆 pay the price now for you!
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

There’s one question We’ve been taught to ask when it comes to the pressures of life. And the question is always ‘How do I get out of this pressure?’

So for the next five days, my goal is to shift the focus from the popular question to the unpopular one, which is: ‘What is this pressure trying to build in me? So let’s get right into it.

My goal is to help give you a different perspective on how you see pressure. Because most of us have been conditioned to believe that when life becomes difficult, something must be wrong.

But what if pressure isn’t always punishment?
What if sometimes pressure is preparation?

Think about Gold:
Gold doesn’t become more valuable because it avoids the fire. The fire removes impurities and reveals what was already there.

And maybe some of the fires you’re experiencing in your life or you will experience in your life aren’t there to destroy you but to build you.

Your patience is being tested because you’re developing patience.

Your discipline is being tested because you’re developing discipline.

Your character is being tested because life is preparing you to carry something your current character may not yet be strong enough to hold.

The Stoic philosopher Seneca has a quote that resonates deeply with me when it comes to this topic. He said “Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.”

So stop interpreting every difficult season as evidence that life has abandoned you. Because Sometimes the pressure is part of the building blocks for the life you want.

Because life doesn’t only give you what you want, life first develops you into the person capable of carrying what you want.

So if you want to build the life that you want, you must fall in love with pressure and learn how to be graceful in it.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

This week I’ll be sharing with you on some things that will change your perspective about THE PRESSURES OF LIFE. So turn on your notifications because it will be an interesting and informative conversation.

You probably won’t overcome fear by waiting until you stop feeling afraid. You overcome fear by moving while fear is present.

I want you to think about learning to swim, for those of you that knows how to swim. And if you don’t pay attention because the same rule is applicable for everyone.

You can read twenty books about swimming.
Watch hundreds of videos.
Stand beside the pool analyzing everybody’s technique.

But eventually…
you have to get into the water.

And Fear works the same way. You will never overcome fear standing on the sideline of life waiting for it to be over with.

And let me pause here to make something very clear for you. Anything that you have not done before, you will always have fear of the unknown to overcome if you ever want to get it done.

This is where courage comes into play.. Because the people who get things done did not do it in the absence of fear. They just developed courage and keep going even when they were afraid.

And you don’t develop courage by not doing things that makes you feel comfortable, courage comes from stepping on unfamiliar territory and when you come out on the other side, You build courage through that evidence.

So, Make the phone call.
Record the video.
Apply for the opportunity.
Walk into the room.
Have the difficult conversation.
Take one uncomfortable step.
Then do it again.

Because every time you survive what fear told you that you couldn’t handle, you give your mind new evidence:

“I can handle discomfort.”

Marcus Aurelius wrote that the obstacle to action can actually advance action, what stands in the way can become the way.

So my challenge for today as I bring this series to an open closed is: look into your life, what is that one thing that you’ve been afraid of doing? Do it today and come back to this post to let me know what you did and the outcome you got.

Remember, You are the Prize 🏆 pay the price now for you.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

Stop trying to destroy every fear you have, Some fears are trying to protect you. The problem is that they may be protecting an older version of you.

I want you to think about a security system programmed years ago. The building has changed, The people have changed, The environment has changed. But the system is still operating according to old instructions.

This is exactly what can happen to us in real life. For instance:
*Maybe you were embarrassed once while trying to communicate your thoughts during a meeting, so now you avoid speaking publicly.
*Maybe somebody rejected your idea, so now you hesitate to share another one.
*Maybe you failed at something, and your mind concluded: “I’ll Never put yourself in that position again.”

I want you to understand something simple today’s about fear and never forget it. “Fear learned from the experience.”

Because what protected you yesterday can imprison you tomorrow. The philosopher Epictetus taught that people are troubled not simply by events, but by the judgments they form about those events.

And here’s why that distinction matters:
Sometimes you aren’t afraid of what is happening, You’re afraid of what you believe it means.

So instead of saying:
“I need to get rid of my fear,”

Ask yourself this question:
“What is this fear trying to protect me from?”

Then ask:
“Do I still need that protection?”

Because maturity is not fighting yourself.
It’s understanding yourself well enough to know which internal voices deserve authority.

Because Your fear may explain your hesitation, But it doesn’t have to determine your future.
You are the Prize 🏆 pay the price now for you.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

If you want to overcome fear, you first have to recognize its disguises. Because fear rarely walks into your life and announces: “Hello, I’m fear.”

Fear says something like:
“I’ll start next month.”
“I need to learn a little more first.”
“What will people think?”
“Maybe I’m not ready.”
“What if I embarrass myself?” And my favorite one:
“I’m just being realistic.” And the list goes on and on.

I want you to Imagine fear like a shadow.
The more you run from a shadow, the more it follows you. But when you turn around and examine it, you discover that the shadow itself cannot hurt you.

Socrates built much of his philosophy around examination,questioning what we assume to be true. And this is the reason not just his philosophy but the stoic philosophy resonates with me most.

I want you to do the same thing with fear:
When you notice yourself avoiding something important, stop and ask:
What am I actually afraid of?
Failure?
Rejection?
Judgment?
Losing money?
Looking foolish?
Or succeeding and becoming responsible for a bigger life?

Then go one level deeper:
What do I believe would happen if that fear came true?

These questions are so powerful because you cannot confront an enemy you refuse to identify. And they force you to examine your circumstances, choices and actions.

So this week, don’t immediately run from discomfort:
Study it.
Name it.
Understand it.

Because what’s I’ve come to realize in my own experience is that the moment you give your fear a name… it begins losing its power over you.
Remember You are the prize 🏆 pay the price now for you.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

Fear doesn’t always look like fear.
Sometimes fear looks like procrastination.
Sometimes it looks like perfectionism.
Sometimes it sounds like, “I’m still preparing.”
And sometimes it disguises itself as being realistic.

Imagine standing at a traffic light that never turns green, You keep waiting. Five minutes become five hours, Five hours becomes Five days, Five days becomes Five months. Five months become five years.

That’s what fear can do to your life. You tell yourself, “When I’m more confident, I’ll start.” But confidence often doesn’t come before action. Confidence is frequently the evidence you collect after repeatedly taking action.

Theodore Roosevelt famously praised the person who is actually “in the arena” because criticism belongs to spectators, but growth belongs to participants.

Take note of this;
You might fail.
People might criticize you.
You might discover that you’re not as good as you thought.

But there’s another possibility fear rarely talks about:
What if you grow?
What if you become capable?
What if the life you keep imagining is waiting on the other side of an uncomfortable decision?

Don’t ask only:
“What could go wrong if I try?”

Also ask:
“What will my life look like five years from now if I never do?”

Because Sometimes the greatest risk isn’t failure, It’s allowing fear to keep you exactly where you are.
You are the Prize 🏆 pay the price now for you.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

Fear is not always your enemy, Fear is an alarm system. Its job is to warn you when your brain believes something important is at risk, your safety, your identity, your reputation, your relationships, or your sense of control.

But here’s the problem: an alarm can go off even when there is no fire. Think about a smoke detector. Sometimes it detects a burning house. Other times, it detects burnt toast. The alarm sounds the same, but the danger is completely different. And that’s how fear works.

Your body can react to public speaking, starting a business, leaving your comfort zone, or being rejected as though you are facing physical danger.

Thats why this quote from Seneca resonates deeply with me when it comes to this topic. Seneca said that “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

This is where what I shared with you on self awareness comes to play. Because if you lack self awareness, you can’t control and master fear.

Here’s the part I want you to seat with; Before you obey your fear, investigate it.

Ask yourself:
What exactly am I afraid of?
Is the danger real?
Or is my mind predicting pain that hasn’t happened yet?

Because Fear is an information, But information is not instruction. You can listen to fear without allowing fear to make the decision.

Remember, You are the Prize 🏆 pay the price now for You.
**Ekerette Akpanyah

The reason I don’t post everyday; most times I get DMs from people checking in to see why I’ve not posted anything on my social media page.

Social media to me is a hobby and I don’t intend to do it full time for now maybe when I retire in the future or if I were to be in Nigeria(which is why I encourage people especially in Nigeria that are not working to get into educational content creation because we need more of that than the comics and sexuality content).

However I post things that if you take them and practice them, you will see results in your life. Because it’s not about how much you consume and planning to consume but what you do with what you’ve already consumed.

Next week I’ll be sharing with you on “THE FEAR” series and it’s going to be a fascinating and powerful series and you don’t want to missed out on it.

For now get to work with what you’ve already learned and we will build on that in the next series. Remember this; we are in an information dense era, it’s not the absence of information that can change your life that will be your greatest disadvantage but not applying what you’ve learned to your own life.

Don’t just be a continuous learner but also become a continuous doer because that’s how to change your life. You are the prize 🏆 pay the price now for you.
**Ekerette Akpanyah**

An inch of movement in the right direction of your goals is better a thousand miles of planning and strategizing! Never forget that.