It Is The Small Things That Matter In Life.

The word small is relative and we all know that. As humans, our greed is never satisfied even when we seem to live relatively well. Well is relative too just as living within our means is. Living well though comes with the big in them. Big cars, houses and gadgets. Nothing of the small stuff. Nevertheless we are very well acquainted with the fact that we can afford the small things without strain. Most of them are free in fact.

Let me give a few instances from my life about the small stuff. I realized they matter a lot, more than money and expensive gifts. The first one is about my friend and me. There was this time I was very busy. Final exams for college were close, then there was the writing of the research paper and finally the aspect of finding an attachment place as part of graduation demands to meet. It strained my friendships a lot. Specifically, this is about a childhood friend we used to school together.

We were great friends for that matter. We even joined the same high school and this helped us cement our friendship better. As fate could have it, I left some years before him.

After high school, I joined college as he was still winding his secondary schooling. Somewhere on the way I left him two classes behind. Nevertheless, we used to chat and keep in touch for old time sake until my final year when I got a little too much work load. He thought I was not interested in the friendship any longer. He almost became abusive that I was becoming full of pride. That I had joined a “higher league.” I wish he understood.

Imagine I only needed to encourage him with a call once in a while or even a text. Such a small thing. Later when I did it, it changed things. Today we are good friends still because I made that one call and wrote that one message, I still do it once in a while. Nowadays, though, he knows my plight very well since he joined the school of life too. From there I realized that small things make a huge difference.

Another day, a young child I used to play with made me fall from some height where I was trying to get her doll from. It had struck on a tree and was held by some twigs. Accidentally I lost grip of the branch and fell down like a sack full of potatoes. I hurt a lot and this made me scold her for being the cause of the fall.

The cause was actually the doll. She thereafter became sad and cold to me. In fact I shouted at her that day and she became really sad. If only I had understood her love for our friendship; I could have not shouted at her. Funny enough she looked at me with piety and said sorry. I felt awkward within me.

Several times I had sent her together with other children on some of my errands some time back. I never acknowledged their acceptance as though it was their obligation. After accomplishing them, I couldn’t even say “thank you.” I later learnt that that was enough and even powerful than if I would have preferred to buy for them snacks or candy.

It is the small things that matter in life. And those small things are available freely. Saying “thank you” “I am sorry”  “excuse me” “please” “pardon me.” Simply returning a call or text message. It doesn’t cost us a hundred dollars to own them. In simple terms, courtesy is all the small things.

How many times have we received a simple fruit from a child and never appreciated it. Yet if we looked at it keenly we could see a whole lesson on health living. A pen perhaps? You could use it to write down your goals for the year or even become a writer. Don’t forget that it is given out of love. There is always a lesson in doing the small things. There is nothing great like a small gift given out love. If you doubt, try a big gift given with malice and hatred.

Nazish S. Qazi’s book Goal Keeping; Overcome Obstacles, Master Motivation and Get Goals, writes on dealing with the challenges of dragons that injure our goal keeping that to a huge extent become as road blocks in our journey towards achieving the big goals.

She insists that it is wise to start with the simpler and small goals if we are to get to the big ones. Once we have achieved the small goals, we get an intrinsic motivation to face the bigger ones. The small motivation is all we need to get started and get going. Small in other words is great in disguise. It is the mantra of every big thing we see today. They started small.

The last and perhaps most important of my three narrations for this piece about small things I learnt matter is the small talk. It often breeds the small motivation. I love the small talk. This is the talk you initiate with a person on a certain topic and gets to give you a clearer perspective of their whole philosophies about life, work, business, technology, religion and many others aspects.

It is from the small talk that I made my greatest friends who have influenced my life to a very huge extent. That is where I got the small motivation to start writing that has become part of my culture and that is how my entrepreneurial journey started. The small things.

The small talk is a small thing, the “thank you” is a small thing and a simple fruit could not compare with a costly cardigan. Truth be told though, it is the abstract in the gifts that matter. The motivation, the value, the love, the devotion is what leaves the lasting impression in those people we extend compassion to with the small things.

I can say authoritatively that for you to get big, you have to start small and get going and growing. Even life is about starting small. Next I will tell you how the small competition builds us up for the bigger competitions. But for now, always know that it is the small things that matter in life. Of such things, meditate upon them.

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