By Debbie Olujobi

A story is told of a Tibetan monk who goes about life being mindful of his duties as a guard. He takes his responsibilities very seriously at his post and never leaves it unmanned. Apart from brief breaks where he is relieved of his duties he stays alert always and his domain his never attacked; in the whole monastery it is the safest place and everyone wonders how he does it.

Questions are asked about stamina, tiredness, nourishment; how on earth can one little man be so effective with little assistance? His answer is how I choose to live my life; his entire approach to life is based on surviving the moment while standing.  “In all things I stand” was his standard reply.

Anytime the little monk was at his duty post; he stood. He ate standing, relaxed standing, exercised standing and the greatest surprise of all was that he slept standing. He perfected the art of meditation and taking short power naps while on duty. The advantage was that he never slept so deep that he couldn’t hear or react to any movement. I am a student of yoga; I have been for 8 years.

I enjoy meditation and quiet times. I am sure I could eat and even exercise on my feet but there ends the similarities. The idea of sleeping while standing is comical, laughable, I have not even perfected how to sleep upright while seating. I have found myself in the embarrassing positions of nodding like a lizard or even having my head fall on a stranger’s shoulder when I doze off in public. Luckily I am not employed to do the monk’s job so I can sleep flat out.

There are not many positions, professions or vocations that would require the extreme will power, physical strength and discipline that it would take to spend a better part of one’s life standing. I am not advocating anyone should but standing is not just a physical feat, it can be a deeply emotional and spiritual one. In my life’s journey I have found that I crumbled rather than stand when storms blow before now.

I would come against a major challenge and dig myself into a hole waiting for the storm to pass. Lately I am finding that my emotional and spiritual muscles are strengthened when I stand and face life head on. Running away from battles offers fleeting peace but the ground in contention is lost; besides battles avoided are battles postponed.

The reality is that life is never stat ic. There are changes that occur, frictions that develop between people, there are tragedies, joys, accidents, successes , challenges and they sometimes hurt; they can hurt a lot. In a perfect world, there would be peace and we would all love each other and do right by one another but it is not a perfect world; far from it.

Even the bible acknowledges the fact that the heart of man is desperately wicked so navigating life can be a bruising experience. I try never to give advice because I believe myself to be a piece of work in progress, we are all students of life; learning every day. The thing to do is to stand literarily in every sense of the word. I am learning to stand emotionally, physically and spiritually. I don’t like to fight but there comes a time to slay giants and trust God for strength to win.

It’s a delicate balance learning to stand on uneven surfaces; life is rocky, most times it’s like standing tiptoe on a cliff. Nothing is ever smooth in life and it seems whatever we achieve or attain must be contended for. Love has a price, success has a price, any achievement has a price; the challenge is the courage and strength to make the payment at the right place and at the right time.

So I have purposed to stand in every way; the days are long gone when I would shrink so that others could shine. My faith demands I uphold fairness and holiness so I can’t fight dirty but fight I will for all that I have and want; survival itself is a fight. The fight begins when we are born; it’s over when we die

I was reminded of the monk after a yoga session. Long after, I picture him in my mind’s eye standing in the freezing cold, blistering heat, lonely nights and even on a hungry stomach. It’s an inspiring story of resilience and courage and I am challenged to face down my own demons, chase after those giants that have threatened my stability and finally stand. It’s incredible to most people when they realise how physically tall I am.

I am above average height for my sex but most of my friends and family will say I am at least 3 inches shorter than I am because I have always done my best to slouch and fit into back grounds; that’s why my shoes are mostly very low heeled or flat. I am not experienced in wearing or walking in high heeled shoes so I probably will never embrace them but the days of slouching are over; it’s time to stand to my full height emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Shrinking is no longer an option so while I won’t sleep while standing, I will no longer sleep emotionally, spiritually and in any way. My choices are not made out of malice and they will be defended my only prayer is that through every storm and every battle I receive grace, courage and the strength to still always stand.