Are You Willing to Pay?

Who else has been frustrated and given up on something they really wanted after realizing what it truly demanded?

That’s me, a lot of times.

Aside from writing, if there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s spoken word poetry. I can write poems, and though I struggle with rhymes, my blank verses aren’t bad. But my tongue? The way I pronounce words? My accent? My expression?

They all seem to combine into a killjoy for this dream of mine—this, I know. Anyway, I did a recording of something I wrote and sent it to a friend. Oga said the piece was nice, but my delivery killed it. Of course, I already knew I wasn’t great at presenting, lacking the aura and all, but it still stung.

Well, this friend of mine sent me YouTube videos and other resources to help with my presentation flaws. He took it upon himself like a government job to straighten my pronunciation. (Get better friends, he get why)

But when I saw the workload required to get me speaking the way I wanted, I chickened out. In my head, I thought, "Who’s going to do all this?"

Yes, I’d love to be a spoken word poet, but the stress it would take to speak eloquently felt discouraging. It made me realize how easily we get carried away by the glamour of the things we desire.

Dearest reader, as I listened to my own recording, I had to give myself some advice. The bitter truth is that, at the end of the day, we have to be deserving of what we crave by putting in the work. Until I’m ready to put in that work, I have no right to long for or crave being a spoken word poet.

And this applies to you, too. That dream you desire—are you willing and able to do everything it demands?

@favvy_Okwans🖤.