My encounter with The Secret book was special. It was during my National Youth Service year shortly before the pandemic.

We gathered at the Local Government Headquarters for the weekly CDS (Community Development Service) waiting for the Local Government Inspector to address us.

The LGI asked how we were faring. A lady complained about stress. The long commute. The traffic. Lagos State in Nigeria should rank top 10 in the world when it comes to congested roads. Everyone could relate to that. Mine wasn’t that bad because I lived 2 hours away.

But at that time I was stressed due to some personal things. I was really confused and depressed. Yes, depressed. I worked on projects that didn’t bring in much money and other side projects that never really took off. I just kept grinding away at it hoping the next one would do better.

I wasn’t feeling well. Always indoors. I wasn’t relating well with people. All my relatives were on the mainland but I moved away to the Island which was an expensive neighborhood so that extra money for entertainment I used to pay bills. I would visit cinemas, the beach, and the mall once in a while. That’s that.

Looking back now, I didn’t explore all avenues available to me to have all the fun I should have because I was a workaholic. Have fun now that I am young and suffer when I get older? So I cut everything off and languished in my apartment.

So that morning when the LGI asked how we were faring, I didn’t think she would understand so I kept mute. Luckily someone complained about stress.

She immediately said the young lady shouldn’t complain about stress. That was surprising to me because she asked the question. She said when you complain about stress, you bring more stress. Whatever you think or even say out loud comes back to you. But if you talk about positive things you get positive things. To me, stress is stress unless she didn’t really care about the lady’s predicament.

I really thought the LGI was just saying that for the sake of it. Traffic will remain congested unless maybe there is a subway system. Saying I don’t want to be caught up in the traffic wouldn’t stop the jam so it was really pretentious to me for her to say that. Wake up early? Over 20 million people in that small city have the same idea as you so?

The LGI was actually new to the Local Government.  A few weeks before my own batch came in. But she was relatable and had been in the system for over ten or fifteen years. Although relatively young, she had worked with young people for over a decade. She kept saying what she was saying and we kept looking at her funny. So she mentioned the book. She said there is a book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and that everything she was saying is in that book.

The Secret? What a catching title. So right away I pulled out my iPhone and searched the net. As she was talking or the next activity started, I flipped some pages about The Secret.

Wow!

After the day’s activity which could be anything from hosting quizzes for younger school kids or walking around with cardboards inscribed with whatever we were preaching, I got on the bus and headed home. The way the LGI hyped the book as an instant remedy to mindset issues, I couldn’t wait to read it. I read on the bus and instantly felt a heavy load lift off my chest.

I started practicing the positive affirmations and immediately tried to reconfigure my mental configurations. I noticed the impact immediately. The principles in The Secret are really basic and true. My only issue is actually practicing and not making excuses. I have willed lots of things to life whether I care to admit it or not, so yeah.

Back then I knew it was just a case of being overworked so it helped me and somehow it’s still helping me but that’s only when I actively think like that. These days I am in scenarios that don’t give me much time or liberty to think about The Secret. But after all is said and done, I feel that little irritating voice telling me everything is my fault.

How is it my fault? Lol. There are some extremes in the book that I doubt or don’t like to believe or better still don’t think about. Like where it says “accidents” are also products of our thoughts. Why are they called accidents in the first place?

Anyway, what I do now is immediately block out any negative thoughts that I don’t like. Usually, about the future. Whether it has any precedent to the past or history or coming from hints made by people who I wouldn’t say have my best interests in their hearts. I block it out immediately because The Secret doesn’t want us to give such thoughts any more power than they deserve and I am scared of crazy things like that happening. I don’t want them to happen so I remove them immediately.

I have gotten better at doing that now all thanks to the book. Back then after working, the little time I had rest I would dwell on my worries. Over time it became a habit. I wallowed in it like a pig seeking comfort in the dirt. I would even go without eating for hours and then get back to work. So it was work and misery. Rinse and repeat. But after the experience with the book, I definitely know better to remove and banish anything I don’t like for fear of it actually coming to pass because this energy thing is real. Worrying drains energy too. It makes me lose my appetite. Living in my head instead of out of it. So I replace those thoughts with things I look forward to and recently it’s been nice to think about certain things or just get busy.

So The Secret is a nice book and the Twitter handle is fire. It is a pity because I am on Android now and the new app is not yet available on Andriod. I really can’t wait for the Android version of the app. A daily reminder would go a long way.

I think the biggest issue is identifying or applying that wisdom in times of crisis and not after it. Or maybe having that in mind beforehand to avoid crises. This is the part I want to work on. The Secret to chill before and during crises or even The Secret to no crises at all, if such a thing exists.

Well, I have to believe life can be smooth without crises. As for now, I am better at banishing bad thoughts and drinking in good ones both for the present and the future.

Thank you, Rhonda. The Secret is true.