Joseph Odok|18 June 2017
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. —Isaiah 10: 27
The challenge of breaking the yoke: The yoke is your attitude to your problems
—By Joseph Odok
I have always believed that it is only me that can stop me from my life's objectives. No demon is more influential than the spirit of God within me. We are gods the Holy Bible says and we are created in the image and likeness of God.
A student of mine in UNICAL once told me he can never graduate because no first born male child had ever graduated from his village. This guy was superlatively intelligent but lazy about giving a finishing to all he sets to do. He wanted to do everything at all times and quickly abandons his best initiative once he faces a little challenge. Some of my students reading this will quickly know whom I am talking about.
He struggled to final year, he got the empathy of some of us that became committed to assist him break the yoke. Yes we did our best and he remained stocked to his believe that no first born male can graduate from his village and nothing can be done about that. Everyone including his parents were involved but he surely fell to defeatist belief. This false belief was not because he could not complete his program, he is a a drop out today because he refused to try to break the yoke. I always gave him tips to breaking the yoke but he always always believed and felt he can't graduate. He gave in to his false believe and the limitations he placed on himself.
It's time to share the frustrating moment of my Ph.D. I finished my Master's degree in less than 18 and was the first to defend in my Master's thesis in UNICAL 2008/2009 batch, the case became different in my Ph.D. I rather spent 6 years and some friends who were less intelligent than me surely defended their Ph.D before me. Even most people that were younger in class than me defended long before me. Example of one of such persons is my colleague Dr. Peter Bisong who was two years younger. He defended and got his certificate approved before me.
Though I took part of my Ph.D study years for my law school, it surely was not the reason for the delay. Surely, there was a yoke to be broken, and the yoke was broken not by relying on prophesies and vigils but by a never give up spirit. This was despite huge challenges, success came by awakening the giant in me. It takes only me to stop myself from any obstacle, my life's obstacles have no place in building yokes to stop me except I give in to the yoke by not developing the right attitude.
I began writing my Ph.D thesis very early in my program but faced unimaginable sets back. In my first attempt, I wrote my thesis up to my chapter four and robbers came and robed me off my laptop. By this I lost my work and all online papers contained in the laptop. This was quite discouraging, coupled with saving money to buy a new lap top, I did not save my work anywhere, I did not take to blaming this not on the devil, but my careless.
After getting a new laptop, I set to begin from the scratch again. Half way within the work my laptop crashed. I took it to my friend Paultu Tawo Bukie-Achu, he is a graduate of computer science and a colleague in the department of computer science. He said he saved the work, but after repairing the computer, the work became corrupted. Efforts to recover the work was to no avail, this time I was in my chapter five. I went for a flash I had saved the work and it was damaged. Electronics are not always reliable. Thank God before this time I had a printed draft up to chapter three. It took me time to build courage again until I began understanding what breaking the yoke means. Breaking the yoke means building enough strength to overcome one's limitations. The strength needed to overcome this limitation must be more than initial strength and strategy. Failure is a booster in my life and not a setback. Surely the only failure in life is to stop trying
I was more motivated now to break the yoke, I needed to defend, I became hungry for a Ph.D, finally I finished my work and defended. After my defense, it was a celebration day, we began the celebration in Palladium, and ended in Montana Villa hotel. Many friends celebrated me, Efio-Ita Effiom Nyok, Inyali Peter, Uket Abanda, Morod Morphy, Kalita Joe Aruku, Miriam Obi, John Owan and many other friends celebrated me. That night as I came home, my laptop was mysteriously stolen again, my house is well protected, there was no break in door and the windows were untouched but the laptop was stolen. This time I was not to begin all over again, I had both saved and printed copies of my work. I simply laughed that the yoke is already broken, I was very motivated this time around
I set up to quickly buy a new laptop. I contacted my friend, Philip Obim, the APC chapter chairmen candidate for Biase LGA for a laptop. He brought the first laptop and some buttons were not functional, I took the laptop back to him and the buttons began functioning. I came back and the buttons stopped functioning. We settled later for a replacement. He made a replacement and I went to the Calabar Airport to get the laptop. Guess what, the screen of the laptop was damaged when I got it, hmmmmm this yoke was not ordinary, I stammered before him in near frustration.
In his kindness, he offered to replace the keys of the former laptop. And that became the magic. It takes a new strength and strategy to break the yoke. Success is not for the lilly livered but the never give up
Joseph Odok
Social Change Agent
