A xenophobic ideologue walked this Earth thousands of years ago. His name was Saul of Tarsus. For all the million passions permissible to man, he chose to persecute Christians with maddening desire. Rumour has it this biblical figure inspired James Cameron’s multiple award-winning titular character T-800 (The Terminator). While that’s an obvious lie, one moment of truth will 360 his life on the road to Damascus.

In that thrilling experience, Saul was blinded by a divine luminous light. Jesus calls out to him to repent of his ways. With that encounter, through the power of Christ, a man who had been a hate-filled villain became a love-filled hero called Paul. A complete turnaround. This was his moment of truth- his Damascus Moment.
Damascus Moment: A sudden event/process that leads to a complete turnaround in fortune.
A PHENOMENON IS BORN
The success story of Saul triggered a highly potent craze: a culture portrayed in several movies, books and advertisement that suggests complete change can happen quickly. And guess what, the world is hooked to this high. We are all thirsting for our Damascus Moment, and we want it now and real fast.
Take a look at how pop culture portrays the Damascus Moment:
THE MOVIE INDUSTRY: HOLLYWOOD
A geeky young lad from Queens on an exhibition fair gets bitten by a genetically enhanced spider. He will develop a heightened sensitivity to perceived danger, incredible sense of humour, crawl and swing from rooftops, fight the big bad villain Thanos and give us one of the best emotionally charged moments in movie history. His name is…
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We are bombarded every day with ridiculous sales pitches that tell us with little to absolute zero effort our lives can undergo a complete change. All you have to do is buy X or Y. There is always that wonder drug that promises to melt your rolling fat pad in three days. There is that guy on Tv without a medical license who claims to sculpt a surgically gorgeous peach of a booty. In a split second all body-type insecure women build wet dream bubbles of using their new booty as collateral for an iPhone XIII Pro Max.
Worst of all is the charlatan televangelist whose anointing oil can cure AIDS, find you a spouse no matter how shitty a person you are, make you filthy rich, and promises he can make God return all your missed calls over the years just by buying his holy water.
Shockingly, people believe this and want this with-no-big-effort-get-it-quick scheme.
WHEN THE DAMASCUS MOMENT GOES WRONG
- In 2019, billionaire diamond trader Ehud Arye Laniado, 65, who reportedly was suffering from schlong Napoleon complex decided a quick penile enlargement procedure was better than the notoriously little progress kegel exercise. He died from a heart attack after injecting an unknown substance into his penis.

Read: Big Penis Equals Good Sex? (10 Limiting Beliefs You Should Break Free From)
- In May 2020, three Bolivian boys came up with the idea of letting a deadly Black Widow bite them in the belief it would turn them into Spider-Man. Following the bite, they were hospitalized after suffering near-fatal complications from the venom. Luckily they survived after a transfer to an urban hospital just in time. Three idiots!
Look not too far away from your life and you can find similar Damascus Moment gone bad stories. From the guy who sold his soul for occultic money, that girl who developed anorexia nervosa in a bid to lose weight quickly, the guy who lost a huge fortune after falling for a 100% profit scam. The list is endless.
What does proper change look like? Can change be quick and safe?
CHANGE:
1. CAN BE INCREDIBLY SLOW
As much as we want a fast life, we must come to a compromise change can be freaking slow and could take an incredible amount of time. In our heads, we want to wake up filthy rich one day, have a ripped body, be like that guy with an aura of mesmerizing charm, or want to be like that superstar celeb. Unfortunately, this won’t happen overnight. Overnight success is pretty much a fairytale.

It took Morgan Freeman thirty-nine good years to land a major movie role in Hollywood. Admire him that much? Think about all those 39 years of insane grind for his Damascus Moment.
10 YEARS OF SILENCE:
John Hayes, a cognitive psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University started researching the lives of 76 successful composers (Mozart, Beethoven etc) by analyzing their works between 1685-1900. The central question that drove his work was, “how long after one becomes interested in music is it that one becomes world-class?”. His discovery?
Virtually every single “masterpiece” was written after year ten of the composer’s career. Not a single person produced incredible work without putting in a decade of practice first. Even a genius like Mozart had to work for at least ten years before he produced something that became popular. Professor Hayes began to refer to this period, which was filled with hard work and little recognition, as the “ten years of silence.”
James Clear (10 Years of Silence: How Long It Took Mozart, Picasso and Kobe Bryant to Be Successful)

2. CAN BE PAINFUL
Following his encounter with Jesus, Saul of Tarsus became blind for three days. He lost touch with the world- a great deal of suffering and pain. That was the price he had to pay for the change. When you finally decide to change for the best, it will cost you a lot- friends, relationships, reputation and worse your personal sanity.
Friends and family subconsciously have a fixated idea of who you are. The very moment you decide to change, this will come as a threat to their perceived idea of who you are. Not many will accept you for the better person you are becoming. You will hear the cliche “you have changed”. This can scare the shit out of you and put you in the terrible dilemma of either accepting your past self or embracing painful change. Not many can choose the latter.
Imagine the backlash a villain like Paul suffered when he switched to becoming a disciple of Christ. Did people forget his past? No. Did he forget his past crimes? A big no. He took a step and that was all that mattered.
3. STARTS WITH THE LITTLE THINGS
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself“
Mahatma Gandhi
Big change starts with little efforts accumulated over time. You don’t need to start really big. Great change is like a jig-saw puzzle. Start joining the little pieces together and soon a bigger picture turns out. Want to become a better student? How about learning to obey something as little as your alarm clock for starters?

We unconsciously sabotage ourselves by overlooking the little things and rather focus on the grander things. How about spending more time being awake working on your dreams than daydreaming all day? Such a little effort could be an incredible gamechanger in becoming better people. What little thing are you changing today?
4. CAN BE UNFORESEEN
Humans make plans to change for good, procrastinate till an elusive perfect time until life slaps us with the unforeseen. Change can come in an instant in the most uncomfortable devastating way. It has taken the death of a loved one to teach us the need to appreciate people while they are alive. It can take a health crisis to teach people to give a shit about what they eat, who and what they fuck.
The death of George Floyd was all it took to change the narrative on police brutality against coloured persons. His death has brought the world together in the fight against racism and racial discrimination. This could be the Damascus Moment we all have been waiting for. Who could have thought it would happen in a shitty pandemic year?

This is life, our Damascus Moment can be unpredictable and chaotic. But then, will you leave change to chance?
PARTING THOUGHTS
We are most frustrated when trying to change. Be it habits, attitude, prejudices etc. This frustration comes from expecting results too soon. While sudden change can be good, it sometimes comes as a shock to our being, and adjusting becomes a painful experience.
Little steps, bidding time, falling short, readjusting and trying again is the right way to our Damascus Moment. Guess what? This takes time and can be a painful journey! Worth it in the end.
Are you on the road to Damascus?
Don’t forget to share your thoughts, like this post, subscribe below and share. Cheers, DrC.
OMG Its been a while since I read your posts n this piece clearly tells me I hv missed a lot. Dope piece. Bless u man. Keep it up
Great to have you back Roo.It’s always a pleasure hearing from you. Glad you loved this post. Cheers mate
This is a well thought out and researched article. I really enjoyed reading it. Kudos, DrC. Keep up the good work.
Hi James. A pleasure hearing from you. Glad you loved this piece. Definitely gonna bring more great stuff on here. Cheers mate
Great piece man. Your works are always interesting and i find it difficult to stop reading when i start. And this particular one has good motivation and advise especially for young ones that wants to make it in life and are not seeing top
Haha. I blushed to this compliment. It’s a pleasure hearing from you Paul. Hopefully many young ones out there learn: fast isn’t always the answer.
Cheers
I don’t know whether to say this is the best cos the last one I read was the best but this is mind blowing truth. This is gospel preached in the the most unassuming way. Kudos Doc, your words rock
Hello David, I am blushing pink too these compliments. Totally appreciate you made time to read this. Cheers and hoping to hear from you soon.
Resilience! Baby steps it is
No better way to say it! Cheers, Hewal3klan.
Nice one, Doc👌
Much thanks Ola. Cheers
Insightful and fun to read
Thanks for the good vibes. Always great hearing from you Jay. Cheers.
Well put boss..it’s always wise to pass through your world (via reading) cos enlightenment breeds here 👌🏿 Don’t leave us Dr C 😅🔥
Always a pleasure hearing from you Dr P. Glad you find this blog enlightening. And oh, hahaha. Not leaving you Buddy. Cheers
Very educative.😍🙏
Glad you made time to read. Thanks for the compliments Beddie. Cheers
Hello Doc… This is really encouraging, we don’t have to rush in life, our time of Damascus will surely come… Life is indeed not a race… Love you so much bro… God richly bless you
“Life is indeed not a race”. No better way to put this. Glad you felt encouraged by this. Much love from here. Cheers Paul.
Totally!!!
Raah! Cheers Evar
Well digested and great DrC. Every day is my Damascus Moment hahahaha. Change can really be good or bad but either ways is an experience for a life time. For example, cultural shock of staying in another country, painful readjustment and others.
Great insight you just shared Monica. Always a pleasure hearing from you. Cheers to us enduring the pain that comes with good change.
This was so easy to read but very enjoyable and enlightening. I always love your writing Charlie. Keep on blessing us with knowledge and humour. Big ups Charley… you’re the Boss✌️✌️😘
Blushing pink right now to these compliments. Always a pleasure hearing from you. Keep coming back for more. Cheers Liz
Awesome read Bro👌🏽
It is a more serious pandemic than the COVID-19.
Great you had it just on the nail🔥⚡
Thanks for the kind compliment, Sage. The thirst for quick change is really troubling. Hopefully, people realize slow and steady is the way. Always a pleasure hearing from you. Cheers.
Wow wow wow One significant element in your pieces is that there’s never a dull moment reading it no matter how long. I guess it’s just human nature with an icing of laziness that propels us to want the best things in the shortest possible time, hard work and patience really pays but most of us just either can’t hold on a little more and give up which sends us back to ground zero. I hope a good number reads this and rather put much effort in building from ground up. Brooo you just couldn’t resist bringing in the Spiderman-Ironman… Read more »
Haha Blaise! Top insight you dropped here on change. Sorry I had to use the “Tony Stark.. I don’t wanna go scene”. But really was the end game scene better than this scene from Infinity War? Cheers and looking forward to hearing from you.
Wow, the Damascus moment. The change we dream of, the change we desire and the change we wish could be instantaneous. Lol gradually, I hope we learn that sometimes when it takes time, it’s worth every bit of the grinding and sweat.
Thanks so much DRC😍😍😍
Yes, we must learn: “it takes time, worth every bit of the grind and sweat.”. Always beautiful hearing from you Shag. Cheers