Hi guys, been a while.
I've been thinking a lot about life as a Youth in your early 20's and as you all know I'm a Nigerian, so here's my take on life as a Nigerian Youth.
First of all, I must say that life in your early 20's can be really overwhelming, in the sense that a lot is expected from you. Your parents, your friends, and the society at large expects you to be a lot of things, do a lot of things, and all that... The pressure increases at this point and all you just want to do is make everyone (friends, family and loved ones) happy. Sometimes this may cost you your happiness and peace but you still have to do it anyways.
Struggling with academics and finance, trying to build your self and find your purpose... Everything just comes up in your head and you have absolutely no idea how to go about all of this, so you're just there gazing into space and thinking, so many questions running through your mind "What do I do?, where do I start?, how do I go about all of this pressure?, who do I talk to?
Let's talk about the struggles of getting admission to study in higher institution. I for one, can confidently say that the STRUGGLE IS REAL. I graduated from Secondary School 3 years ago, I didn't want to write WAEC and JAMB at once because I felt it will be too much load for me, so I decided to take it one after another. I took my WAEC exams the same year I graduated. After few months the WAEC results was released and as God may have it, I passed all my subjects except for one of my core subjects which was cancelled for some reasons which I don't know. I was so confused, I didn't know what to do. Should I register for WAEC again? Or do I write NECO? I thought... I finally decided to write NECO after so much struggle and opinions from others. I registered and I passed without any issues, all Glory to God. Then, I wrote my first JAMB exams and I passed! Thanks to God again. I didn't get admission, I changed my choice of institution and yet nothing. At this point I was not sure what's going on anymore, but there was nothing I could do about it sadly. The following year I registered for JAMB again, and guess what... I still Passed. I know you might be thinking that I'm one hell of a brilliant person the truth is that it's not me, it's God. One thing I can tell y'all for sure is that God has never failed me, not even once, so whatever you do in this life, make sure you do it with God, carry God along with you.
I didn't still get admission that year, after all the assurance I got from people in the school I was applying for. At this point, I almost gave up because I had already exhausted my strength. I cried every night and day, I was depressed and sad, I fell sick and I lost so much weight. I couldn't deal with the thought of writing JAMB for the third time... I didn't know my journey to higher institution would be this tough. I was tired. I tried everything else, Direct Entry but the forms were too expensive, I couldn't afford it, I even thought of changing my choice of institute but it was already too late and now I didn't have a choice but to register JAMB again. All I can say is thank God for everything regardless, because my sanity was at stake at this point and trust me when I say it wasn't easy for me. I will stop here for now.
Now, my take on trying to level up financially. This is one of the most difficult!!! As an undergraduate, the chances of getting a well paying job is extremely slim. All you can see is a sales person job where the pay is really small, but as a typical person trying to survive you manage... I currently work at an upcoming IT Firm and this is really overwhelming because having to deal with rude customers and other different characters at the office can be so tiring. You have to be in your nicest behaviour and tolerate every single nonsense you get there. All this for how much... Lol
If only the world knows what everyone else is going through in their lives, everyone would be nice to each other but the truth is no one cares about your feelings like we Nigerians normally say, "Nobody send your papa" and that's just the bitter truth.
Now the big question is "How do we meet up to expectations with all this struggles here and there?"
Well the truth is Life is not a Bed of Roses, you have to strive to get what you really want. You don't stop!! It's not easy but you know what they say, "Nothing good comes easily".
With all this being said, we can see that life is not easy as a Youth. I'm a Survivor. I'm sure so many others out there are also survivors.
Here's my piece of advice to us:
Whatever you do, carry God, do it with God. God is the only person who can help you in Life, every other person might fail and disappoint you but God CANNOT!!!
Don't let pressure from your peers get at you. Your mates might have gone ahead of you. You might feel like you're behind, but the truth is that You're NOT behind, Your journey is just different from theirs. You're not like them, You're DIFFERENT from them. All you have to do is make sure you don't loose focus, Focus on yourself and achieve what you want, not because you want to feel among but because it's WHO YOU ARE.
Don't give up, and if you ever feel like giving up, think about how far you've come, think about why you started in the first place. It's okay to cry, it's okay to scream in your room, it's okay to let out all the pains, but after all of this... Please GET UP
And lastly, please take care of yourself, your sanity is very important. Nobody really cares... And to people like us that doesn't even have anybody that we can run to in our times of struggle, we have God and he will not fail us.
Let me know your take on this in the comments.
Bless Up, Family