-provides roadmap for a successful, purposeful life

By Alisa Lashley

RECOGNISING that young people need guidance to lead a successful and purposeful life, Cardel Hunte recently launched a book which sets out how such could be done.

Through his book, “I Dare Me”, the 20-year-old has proven that he is an advocate for change and development of his peers.

Apart from being a full-time teacher and student, he is currently involved in numerous youth developmental activities and shares a love for singing, drama, music and poetry.

In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, the youth leader articulated that his book seeks to dare the average person to live a life in a way that serves him/her with happiness, self-fulfillment, and the achievement of dreams, goals, and purposes.

“I always had a passion to inspire others and encourage them to be their best selves. Over the years it’s been through poetry, songs and motivational speeches. This idea came to me as I was thinking of ways to reach more youths with my purposeful messages. I wanted to create a piece that encompassed everything I wanted to say to a young person whom I believed in and wanted to see succeed in life. This is where the ‘I Dare Me’ story began. I relived my own experiences in coming into my divine calling, in living a life of purpose and the ways which I thought of in achieving my goals and dreams,” Hunte said.

“I Dare Me” is a motivational non-fiction that encourages readers to identify their God-given purpose and calling and apply them through the effective living and the achievement of goals and dreams. It is a compilation of guidelines for making this happen. It includes themes of spirituality, inspiration, transformation, perseverance and character.

It combines psychological principles of understanding one’s own identity and uniqueness, biblical principles of Godly living and widely accepted moral values. It gives readers a challenge to have an introspection done of their own lives and character.

The book targets persons who may just need a bit of motivation to get through each day, or persons who generally find it a bit difficult in making decisions — even if it’s a young adult now learning his/her way around life and may want to know more about his/her identity and his/her purpose, a person who has so many goals and dreams but just needs some advice on how to achieve them all and even someone who has lived his/her life and wants to continue doing so towards the fulfilment of their destiny.

Hunte specified that after reading the aforementioned book, the average person should feel a sense of worth and completeness, a deeper desire for purpose and success and overall empowerment of his/her character.

CHALLENGES
When asked about the difficulties he faced during the compilation of the book, Hunte expressed that he recalls numerous difficulties from the inception of the project up until its completion.

“For starters, I had no prior knowledge of how to write a book. I was clueless about where to begin, how to continue and how to end. I truly believe that God was moving ‘the pen’ all along. There were times I faced writer’s block and I felt so out of ideas and lost in an incomplete story, but I found inspiration in the people I would interact with on a daily basis; my friends, family and various youth networks. In turn, they inspired me to keep on inspiring them. There were many times I got so engaged with other things that I almost forgot I was writing a book. I had to split my time into completing tasks for my job, and the three organisations that I run,” he added.

Additionally, through the ‘purpose charge’ sessions at his Vocal Identity Series Club, the young man would find himself sharing chapters from the book and would take into account the responses and useful feedback from participants then continue writing.

“At work, my daily interaction with children brought me the joy and mental stability I needed to do a bit more writing. All in all, I am truly thankful for each of these challenges as I believe the book bore sweet fruit in the midst of it all,” Hunte posited.

When asked about his future plans in the writing arena, Hunte responded, “I do have another book in mind that I hope to release in the next year or so. This one really fills me with excitement as it won’t be just my story, but the thoughts, stories and pieces from many others. I’d love to keep the suspense so I’ll refrain from saying much more until then.”

In advising up-and-coming young writes, Hunte implored them to face fear and doubt head-on and to never let it stop them from sharing their stories.
“The thoughts of ‘will my piece be accepted’ or ‘will it have an impact’ are very frightful at times and can hold us hostage from releasing our voices to the world. And the self-doubt can grip us so tightly that we end up abandoning our work altogether. Future authors, don’t be afraid and don’t be worried. Believe in your piece and allow others the privilege of having a read,” he said.