“ There is nothing wrong with expecting anyone to lead you in the right direction, but there is something wrong expecting someone to lead you all the way on your life journey.” NosaJ
 
  It does not take a title to become a leader but by virtue of certain titles appointed to us by life or by office and or expectations, we become leaders. Some of the greatest leaders are hidden in the shadow of the limelight or are cloaked as follower but with uncanny abilities to make appointed leaders follow their ways.

  It does not take a title or a label either to be a follower, for even leaders have to follow and or be guided by others. The danger of being a follower is that it is a label that can become you, if you allow it to be so. It is a sign post that can lead you in the wrong direction or to places and into relationships, that can only bestow misery upon you and that is where common sense and the strong mind of your own leadership and self come into play.

  In the beginning we have to be followers, but at some point in life, we do have to become our own leaders. I say that we are all followers in the beginning, because we all come into the world as children and even if destined to be a leader there is a path that has to be followed and others to follow down that path. Some become leaders, some become rebels and then leaders and some simply become of their own mind or follow the minds of others. It is the learning path in the beginning and the growing up path that leads us all to who we become. There are those that will guide you down a good path and those that may lead you down the wrong path.

  To learn anything, there must be teachers. That makes teachers leaders also but once upon a time they were also followers and may still follow certain doctrines. The true and great leaders of nations, of men of people and of others have always had great teachers. Your parents have always been your teachers, until a certain point in life when you became your own rebel or of your own mind, follower or leader of others. That makes parents leaders as well.

   We are followers and we are all leaders or can be either. The role fluctuates back and forth depending on capacity, environment and circumstances. Some play the role of leader in any capacity, environment or circumstances, because they have learnt to lead, want to lead and know how to persuade others to follow them.  Some play the role of leader because nature and the universe have appointed them as guardians of other souls and make them responsible to lead as parents, teachers or in some other capacity as caretakers of the future. Some play the role of followers, because each cause and every leader needs followers.

   We as a people elect our leaders and make them responsible for governing states and nations. Elected leaders will hopefully lead the people in the right direction but also have to follow certain rules, regulations, policies and the law. We as a people, each have to lead our own lives and how we lead our own lives now, irrespective of who is in power, will determine the path of our own lives tomorrow and the lives of those that depend on us to lead or guide them. The decisions that we wake up and make today as our own leaders, will decide not only our own fate but the path that those around us and after us, will follow.

   It is always easier to follow than to lead, for with leadership comes great responsibilities and burdens
that all leaders in any capacity must bear by themselves or with but a chosen few. It is easier to follow than to lead in any capacity, for it is also easy to expect someone else to make things better for you and fix problems for you, rather than doing so yourself. It is easier to lay blame for all that goes wrong in your life on the leader, rather than take any ownership for or of what went wrong. There is no better qualified person in the world to lead your own life, than you are.
 
  Wake up and realize that you are a leader and have to be your own leader.  Even more importantly wake up and feel like you want to be your own leader. As a follower try not to follower any leader down the wrong path. As a leader, light the path well for those who have to follow you or your guidance. Wake up and be a good example to others.


                                                           Jason @MondayMorningPositivity

'Life is sometimes a hard piece of cake but there is usually a way to make it a delicious piece of cake." NosaJ
 
  Sometimes you will find yourself between a rock and a hard place and you will need to find a cushion to make that place as comfortable as possible until you can get out of that place. If you need to or want to get yourself away from the rock and the hard place, and to avoid the next rock and hard place, you will always need a plan to do so.

  No life is ever a straight forward story. Some lives are a roller coaster of a journey and some life stories are better planned or have a better plot to them than others but no life really ever goes completely according to plan from start to finish.  That would be too simple or easy a story.

 This might be because the story is not ours alone to plot, to shape or even to execute. This might be because the universe is such that it decides to throw us some challenges or curve balls from time to time or because life is not necessarily meant to be a straight forward journey but one that has many paths to the same destination that we each need to get to.

  Our journey always begins as children and as children our parents are responsible for plotting our life story and executing their grand plans and hopes for us. Maybe they wanted you to become a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, a teacher, hold high political office or follow in their footsteps. Maybe you did and maybe you did not but the point is, that is not how the story always unfolds.

  The plot thickens as we grow older and become more mature. Maybe the dreams that your parents had for you do not coincide with the dreams that you have for yourself or coincide with who you are. Maybe you follow your own path but the fulfillment that you are truly looking for eludes you and the path changes. Sometimes the path changes again and again and again of your own accord or according to particular events that happen in your life. Maybe you make some mistakes along the way and the script has to be changed again.

  There are some parts to your story that you have control over and there are some parts of the story that you do not have control over. The planning and being able to be preemptive in life gives you more control over your own life, rather than letting others or circumstances be your story teller or control the direction of your story.  There also comes a point in the story where the story can only go in a particular direction or end in a particular way because the story is getting closer to the end.

  If you do not know where you are going, or where you want to be, you are never really going to get there but by chance. If you do not know what you are looking for in life, you are never going to find it and even if it finds you, you may not recognize it. If you do not know what the disease is, you cannot really find the cure. If you do not plan ahead , learn from the part of your story that has already been written, or the events that have already occurred in your story, then you are more likely to find yourself as the character between a rock and a hard place in your own  life story.
 
  There are some lessons that you must not fail to learn from your own story and from the stories of others  or the price to pay gets higher as you grow older.  Life may not always be straight forward and the universe may decide to throw us some challenges from time to time, but the universe and life also send us an abundance of warnings and signs that do enable us to be preemptive in many respects.
When some things are about to go wrong, there are warning signs that must not be ignored or there will be a penalty to pay.
 
  The body is its own temple of health and has its own warning signs. Your instincts and those goose pimples you sometimes get are their own warning signs. When a storm is coming, there are usually warning signs. When your car is about to run out of gas, there is usually a warning sign. When something is going wrong with your relationship or something going wrong at work, there are signs that you should not ignore.
 
  If you do ignore them, you get to the end  of some your chapters before you want to or some  chapters to your story end in a way you would not want them to. That is the importance of being preemptive and acting swiftly or accordingly.  If you fail to take control of your own script or fail to be preemptive where and when possible, then you watch circumstances become writer, director and producer of your story, rather than you being the extraordinary or phenomenal director of your own life story.
 
  All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. All stories begin with being a child and usually belong to parent and child or family. The middle belongs to evolving relationships, circumstances  and to you.
The end of the story always  depends on you. All good stories are well planned , well written  and constructed with foresight.
 
  All stories have their own twists and turns to make life stories exciting or challenging but each character has also been given certain attributes, gifts, certain tools or something to play their part well or tell a good story. If you can still utilize your gifts ,the life tools or the preemptive resources that are yours to use, then you are still in a good position to re-write or continue writing a better life story.