Fortune favors the bold — our Macedonian story
How we rose above our circumstances
Several days ago, I had a cup of coffee with a friend of mine who I haven’t seen in a while. During the conversation, he insightfully noted that our biggest advantages, as a developing country, are resourcefulness and resilience. And there it was. Boom! It hit me like lightning.
As long as I can remember, we are in constant political and economic crisis and social turmoil. 30 years — my generation’s whole life. But here is the good thing: within this harsh, and to most of us inhospitable environment, we managed to develop some crucial survival skills. We might have not fixed the corrupted system nor held most of our politicians accountable for their actions and the way how they ruled, but we surely fought as hell to survive.
And not just that: this state of depression and desperation for years and decades, turned a lot of our countrymen to accept a different path to success. They burned their bridges with the government a long time ago and pushed themselves to a lifelong pursuit of success and prosperity. For these individuals, the rule was very simple: we can rise above our circumstances. We cannot be defined who we are and what we can do in life simply by the place we live in or the background we come from. And surely, we don’t always need the government or some local authority to ‘lift us’ and offer ‘their help’.
Writing these lines, I was reminded of the story of the two lions. I first heard this one in 2018 during an inspiring presentation by now late IT entrepreneur Hayan Selmani, who made it to become Microsoft’s MVP. The story goes like this:
Once upon a time, there were two lions. The first one lived in a fertile green valley, along with many springs, ponds, lush greenery, and a rich source of vegetation. In its’ immediate vicinity there were countless zebras, gazelles, antelopes and other kinds of “fresh meat” within reach. Due to the abundance of perfect conditions for life and survival, the lion that lived in the fertile valley over time became fat and lazy, and his strongest predatory instincts became completely dull.
The second lion in the story lived at the very top of the mountain, in a dark cave and surroundings that were ruthlessly cruel for life. Due to the scarce resources for life and survival, this lion was forced to adapt to those condition to survive. Therefore, his senses of sight, hearing and smell developed to the maximum, and his claws sharpened as the most skillful and efficiently made cold weapon.
And what’s the point here? I think most of us already get it. The chance for our greatest development lies not in the perfect conditions, but on the contrary, in the most unperfect environment and setting. There cannot be growth, both personal or at a national level, without sacrifice, resilience, and the ability to constantly adapt to the changes that happen every day.
We must choose our path: to complain about our fortune every time something goes wrong or to use every possible tool that we have in our disposal to be better every day, to look for solutions and to help each other! As someone nicely put it: being underestimated might turn out to be one of the biggest competitive advantages you can have.
To each and every one, good luck and have the courage to make important decisions in life. Remember, fortune ALWAYS favors the bold!
