There are a few things I can say I’m brilliant at doing. One of them is teaching. Teaching has been a part of me for quiet some time now and I really enjoy when I'm teaching. When it comes to making hard topics simple, I can say I’m good at it.
Teaching wasn’t something I planned to do from the beginning. When I finished secondary school, my dream was to study medicine and surgery in the university but things didn’t go as I had hoped when I finally got admission into the university. The school gave me a completely different course, it wasn’t even close to medical line. I was offered B.Sc. (Ed) in Integrated Science. A course in the field of education, and I was not really happy about it. At first, I wanted to reject the admission I was like this was not what I applied for. But after thinking about it, I decided to go ahead and accept the offer.
As time went by, I started to like what I was studying. At first, it was just trying to manage and had the mentality of just get the certificate. But little by little, I began to enjoy the field. I started finding joy when I'm explaining topics and ideas. Though I had never taught anyone before, I noticed that when I read and understood a topic, I could explain it very well to others. My coursemates began to come to me for help, and I started holding tutorial sessions for some of them. Some even said they understood the topic better when I explained it.
There was one time my lecturer gave me a topic to teach in class. It was during his own lecture time, but he trusted me to take over. Though I was not ready for it but I did it. I took over the lecture and the feedback was good. Another time, the lecturer was supposed to take us for a practical class on the alimentary canal of animals using rat. But he had an emergency and couldn’t make it. He quickly called me to take over the class. I was not even prepared, but I handled it. It went well. My course mate were just recording what I was doing and saying and how I was breaking the topic into simpler terms for them.
To be honest, those small moments gave me confidence and made me see something I didn’t notice before, I was actually good at teaching.
Currently, I teach in a private school. It’s not just something I do for the money but I enjoy it. There's this joy that fills me when students learn something new because I explained it in a way they understand. Teaching has become a part of me.
Another thing I am brilliant at is computer operation. I may not know everything about computers, but I’m very good at using them, especially when it comes to Microsoft Office packages like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I picked interest in computers right from when I was in high school as part of the skill I learnt. Once someone showed me how to do something on the computer, I picked it up quickly. That’s one thing about me. I have the ability to understand things easily. Once I see it done or someone teaches me, I can repeat it and even become better with time.
Picture taken 2021
Working with computers is something I love doing and to some extent, good at. I enjoy typing, creating documents, making presentations, and organizing data. In fact, if you teach me something once, I will most likely not forget it. I keep practicing and with time I become very good at it. Some people even come to me when they have problems with their computers. I may not have gone to a big computer school, but through personal learning and practice especially using YouTube, I’ve gained skill to handle many tasks on the computer.
I remember when I joined a computer center newly, It didn’t take me long before I started helping others in the class. Some of the people I was learning with started calling me “teacher sir” because I was always explaining things to them in a simple way. Just like in school, I found myself teaching others, even when I wasn’t the main teacher. It just came naturally.
My picture at work
These two things, teaching and computer operation are areas where I believe I am brilliant. I didn’t plan to be a teacher, but now I am, and I’m proud of it. I didn’t think I would be so good with computers, but now I’m confident in my skills.
Sometimes, life does not go as we plan. We may not always get what we dream of, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be great at something else. What matters is that we are open to learning. That is what happened to me. I found myself in a different field, but I gave it a try. Today, it's a part of who I am.
If someone had told me years ago that I would be standing in front of a class to teach, I would have laughed because I was very shy back then. But today, that is my reality, and I’m grateful for it. I may not be perfect, but I am improving every day.