image
No one is coming to save you—you are responsible for your life
Just like they used to say that school will teach you lessons before giving you a test but real life will give you a test before teaching you a lesson, I didn't really know how true that was until I realized that in this life, no one is coming to save me, that most of the time, I am responsible for my life. As a child, I felt dependent on my parents, especially my dad because he was in charge of 60% of the responsibilities at home, we the children thought we are still young and all we need was to study and enjoy. According to him, if we study hard and come out with good grades, we would surely get a good jobs and we will be rich in future (I think most parent have that same thought) but honestly, we had no exposure, we weren't allowed to mingle or know anything about the street or life outside, it was always from school to home then to church.
Until I entered the teen age, after jss 3, I literally had to force my dad to allow me learn a computer skill at one of the shops in the town and I really learnt it well and some years after he passed away and that was when reality struck and the struggle started. Things were hard for us, no one to really depend on and university was already knocking at the door, after ssce, someone advised me to attend either college or polytechnic instead of a university since my sister is there and the fee might be too much which I agreed to and just decided to work for a year while using my computer skill to earn and actually save up some money, that was when I began to see myself as a man since someone once said "you are a man the day you start making decisions and also bear the consequences of your action". It wasn't that easy and at some point, I stopped and had to focus on my studies until when I was to 300level, I felt the real brokenness, just to eat was a bit hard and the statement came back again "no one is coming to save you, you are responsible for your life".
I sat myself down and asked just one question, Why am I in school? if not to make money at the end of the day, apart from the knowledge, we all hope to graduate with good grades, get a good job and start making money, so I decided to split my time into two, dedicated one for school work and the other to hustle and earn while studying and at the end of the whole day, I don't even know where my certificate is, and I haven't earned a dime from the theories i learnt in school. There are some things school won't teach you and you have to figure them out yourselves, I could remember when a lecturer scolded a student who came late to lecture hall because she had to attend to her business that very morning, she tried to explain but the lecturer was like "your parent sent you to school to study and not to engage in any business, face your studies and business will come later", I laughed silently that day, right now, I don't think that particular student is earning using that certificate, everyone are now focused on their skills or business they developed while in school.