For a girl who was born in Delta state, moved to Enugu state as a toddler, from there to Lagos state and then Ogun state, changing of environment is like a part of me.
You might be wondering, what was making this girl move from one state to another, the answer is my dad’s job at the time. Did I like it? No wayyyy! Did I have so much of a choice? Of course not☹️.
I happened to school in Ogun state from my second year in senior secondary school(SS2) up to my tertiary education. When it was time for me to register for NYSC, my folks questioned me to know if there was a particular state I wanted to serve, I was always so casual with my responses and would normally just reply that I’m open to anything really, as long as it’s not the northern part of the country🌚.
The whole NYSC registration commenced, and alas, I was posted to Rivers state. On seeing my posting letter, I sincerely didn’t know how to feel. I didn’t even know what I was expecting but Rivers state? That’s quite a distance now.
While in that dilemma, my folks were already very excited, they thanked God, rejoiced and tagged it answered prayers.
And that was it, my fate had been decided. Funny how they didn’t even want to hear me mention anything about redeployment.
I packed my bags and off I went. Alone, on a trip to a place I have never been to before. I will stress the alone part because every time we moved those times, we moved as a family, so yeah, this was different.
I won’t bore you with all the challenges I faced before I settled down the best way I could, mostly emotional and mental challenges in all sincerity, but yeah.
The purpose of this my post is to open your mind to what you should expect when opting to change to a whole different environment. I am speaking from my experience thus far…
The way of life over there is going to be very different, it will be nothing like you know plus there is going to be the language barrier too. A whole new languages that will sound way different from what you know and you won’t even understand anything.
You see that thing called loneliness and boredom, you will experience it to the fullest, you might even shed a few tears on some days. You will miss having your people around, your friends, and just every other person you know. It will be hard my dear, I will not lie to you.
There will be lots of new things to try out especially new dishes and food combinations. If you are someone that is open to explore and try out new delicacies, you would love this aspect. For instance, I didn’t even know groundnut could be added to fruit salad till I came to Rivers state and it tastes really good.
Be ready for your skin to react to the change in environment, and even the water especially, both drinking water and the one you use to bath and cook. Your skin may or may not accept it nicely.
If you are not intentional about meeting new people and socializing, you will just realize that months will pass by and you have not made any single reasonable connections with people around you. You won’t even be bold enough to tag anyone around you your friend because is it by the good morning greetings you exchange with your neighbor every now and then? or how you only see people you stay in same compound with by chance? Lol.
You will become more active online one way or the other. You will draw strength and comfort from your friends and loved ones via social media because they are clearly far away from you and you just crave their presence so much and want to stay in touch always.
If you are battling depression and going through a lot, I don’t think being alone in a new environment will be best for you because it could make things worse. It’s best to be surrounded by all the love and good company you can get.
A new environment can also bring about a new identity. You can choose to repackage and rebrand yourself, be a different person, exhibit a different personality than the you back at home and just freestyle.
Another bitter truth is that your friends back home may replace you or get a new friend or even friends that they now roll with and you will be there on your own without anyone to call yours 😂. The spirit of jealousy might overwhelm you but don’t worry, you will be fine dear🥹. After all, no one is stopping you from mingling it’s just that it’s not as easy for you.
Don’t be shy to ask questions about the area too, how they run things and just questions about anything and everything you need to know. This one is very important. This is more of an advice😂.
If I could do things differently, maybe just maybe, I would have chosen not to leave my comfort zone and just stay where I’m used to. This is my own point of view anyways. So let’s interact, how open are you to changing environment? Do you love it more than you hate it or vice versa? and from this post of mine, do you feel like I’m embracing it pretty well or still struggling?