When I was in secondary school all those years ago, one thing I heard often was to wait until I got into the university before I could get something. When I wanted to learn tougher topics, I was told that such topics would be covered in the university, and I should be patient. When I tried to have fun, I was told to focus on my WAEC and pass, because I’d be able to have all the fun and freedom in the university.
Well, I did as they said and I passed my WAEC. Getting into the higher institution was nothing like what they painted it to be. The topics I was told they’d cover were ignored because the lecturers already assumed that we had been taught in secondary school. I didn’t have as much freedom and fun as I wanted because I was too busy trying to make grades, managing my allowances, and being a good boy. I was told to wait until graduation, when I’m done with school, I’ll have more time to flex and be happy.
I was told so many things. I was told not to work and focus on my books; I was told that pursuing money would only make me distracted and cause a derailment in my grades. I couldn’t have that. But the longer I spent in school, the more I learned that people were only telling me these things from their own insecurities. I could do whatever I wanted and still come out with good grades.
I was in ND2 when I started actively trying to make money and combining it with my schooling. At the time, it was painstaking and difficult, but it was bringing in enough to keep me going. I also learned how to have a good time. I didn’t need to wait to graduate, and I didn’t even need to be with other people. I learned how to make myself happy without having to rely on someone else’s company.
And therein formed a major life lesson for me. You don’t wait for anything. There are only wrong times to do things, but there is no right time. The wrong time to start something is in the past, and that’s time that you’ve already lost and is of no use to you anymore. The best time to do that thing is now! Just do it! It doesn’t matter what it is. You want to learn a new skill, or you want to go to the beach? You want to know what it feels like to lodge in an expensive hotel? Just do it!
If you keep waiting for the right time, the right time is never going to come. Whether you’re ready for the opportunity or not, time is going either way. So, while you’re out there deceiving yourself, telling yourself that you’re strategically placing yourself, you’re only giving excuses for why you can’t get something simple done.
Do what’s on your mind, have that fun, take that trip, learn that skill. The fact is that you only live once, and your fears won’t make you live any longer than you’re meant to. Because in the end, you want to have a past that you can look back on and know that indeed you lived life to the fullest. It won’t be cool to look back and all you can see are blank spaces of what should have been. That’s gonna hurt.
So, my dear friends, don’t wait for the next phase of your life. Don’t wait to get older, or smarter, or more mature. The fun of the journey is not in the destination, it’s in the journey itself. That’s where the main story lies. We need to be willing to seize our happiness and own our lives.
That’s the best call.
