Your Mission, Your Future – The Quest for Personal Discovery
Each generation, pulled from relative obscurity, must either fulfill its mission or betray it.
I was part of a project titled ‘Young People Against the Spread of AIDS’ focused on raising awareness in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. Later, I joined LoveLife — still with the same mission: to dedicate my resources to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Reflecting on that time, the biggest challenges were misinformation and peer pressure. Most young people were making choices without thinking about the consequences that would follow.
Today, I believe young people face similar challenges. But things have changed. Information is now accessible through social media, and mainstream media has amplified awareness far more than it did two decades ago.
Here’s the truth: new HIV infections are the result of thinking, not just behavior. If a young person has no sense of the future and only lives for the weekend, the results will show. But a young person with dreams and ambition sees life in a broader sense. They think long-term.
Your thinking shapes who you call friends, associates, or acquaintances. Wrong company corrupts good character.
Your view on risky sexual behavior is tied to how you see yourself. Self-respect means taking care of yourself and refusing to let someone pressure you into choices whose consequences you alone will carry. Young people who fall pregnant as teenagers double the struggle of achieving academic goals. Too often, the result is a mediocre standard girl that settles for “as long as I’m alive.”
Drugs and alcohol play a huge role in distracting young people today. It looks fun and entertaining for a moment, but the results are destructive.
Saying “No” to drugs and alcohol is the same as saying “Yes” to a brighter future. It is my conviction that every young person must first defeat themselves before they can lead a nation.
The struggle is real. Young people today face many challenges — I can attest to that. But you have a choice. Resist the notion that young people are lazy, entitled, and promiscuous. Choose to stick to your dreams and pursue your future self.
Think of your future before you make any decision. For every action, there is a reaction.
Sicelo Ngubane is a social entrepreneur, an inspirational speaker and a youth activist with interests in leadership and personal development. Has been with Love Life, Sibikwa Arts Centre and the South African Association of Youth Clubs
