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While I was in the secondary school, we used to have a teacher who always believed that life was stereotyped. She believed that life would always go the same way for everybody once you follow the right procedure. The question now is, is there ever a right procedure to life? Is there really a way to model your life so you always get good fortune? Well she was invited for a speech during our graduation and these were all she had to say;
“Today’s assembly is about the start of a journey. The start of the rest of your lives. Today you are graduating but in 4-5 years’ time you will be completing you’re A-level. In 5 years’ time, you would have started your careers. Many of you in this room will be working for the top institutions across the globe. You will then get buy a house, get married and start a family and in 10 years’ time, your life will be set for you and you will have all you have ever dreamed of by virtue of your starting life on a good footing”.
While she was still saying these, an elderly man who was in attendance stood up and cut her short.
He walked up to the stage slowly and quietly. When he got to the stage, he started by apologising for cutting her short and ask the woman to stop telling us the wrong things and giving us the wrong ideas about life. We the students were shocked at this and were interested in knowing what the man had to say so we gave him audience.
He said and I quote;
“Helo my lovely children, let me tell you why her approach may fail you. At my age, I have gathered so much experience and I have seen things and know things many of you young ones here have no idea about.
I know people who graduated at the age of 21 and didn’t get a job until they were 27 and I know people who graduated late at the age of 25 and they got a job immediately.
I know people who never went to the university or saw the four walls of a school but found what they love at the age of 18 and today they are happily pursuing their passion and goals and I know people who found a job straight out of college, making decent money but hate what they do.
I know people who took gap years and found their purpose and by gap years I mean, skipping school and coming back after years and by that, had to finish school late.
I know people who were so sure about what they were going to do at 16 but changed their minds at the age of 26.
I know people who have children but are single and I know people who are married but had to wait 8-10 years to have children.
I know a lot of people in relationships who love someone else and I know people who love each other but aren’t together.
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So my point here is that, everything in life happens according to our time and our clock. You may look at some of your friends and thing that they are ahead of you, and maybe some of them you feel are behind. But the truth is, everything happens at their own pace. They have their own time and clock and so do you. So be patient.
At age 25, Mark Cuban was a bartender in Dallas. It took till age 32 for J.K Rowling to have her famous book Harry Porter published after being rejected by 12 publishers. Ortega launched Zara when he was aged 39. Jack Ma started Alibaba when he was just 35. Morgan Freeman got his big break at the age of 52. Steve Carell only got his break after 49 years old and Virgin airline was started by Richard Branson at 34.
So getting your degree after the age of 25 is still an achievement. Not being married at 30 but still happy is beautiful. Starting a family after 35 is still possible and buying a house after 40 is still great.
Don’t let anyone rush you with their timelines, because as Einstein said;
Not everything the counts can be counted and not everything that is counted truly counts.
He took a sip of water from the cup of water brought to him as he continued;
Now this is the most important thing. I want you to be able to create meaningful purposeful fulfilling lives for yourselves, and learn how to use that to make an impact and a difference in the lives of others and THAT WILL BE TRUE SUCCESS".
When he finished, he walked back with his chair and the whole audience gave him a standing ovation.
It was indeed a life changing speech and that is why I have decided to share it with you all today.
