I remember my dad wanting me to become a Doctor as his first child and most especially because his older siblings had all produced doctors in their respective nuclear families.
He insisted that I went for sciences after my JSSCE despite my awful performance in Mathematics and wouldn’t bulge despite my incessant plea because as far as he was concerned I was his OWN and he could make such decisions on my behalf. So I bundled myself off to school and after my 1st term results I was completely convinced that the sciences were not meant for me. At the end of that term, I pleaded with my teachers to follow me home to convince my parents, especially my dad that I was a better fit in the Arts class. After so much plea, he agreed that I change classes without hesitating to ring it loud in my ears that I was going to lose an entire year of my life having to repeat SS1 while my mates went ahead to the next class.
I cried my eyes out at that realization especially because I wasn’t changing schools so it meant I had to face the humiliation of becoming a junior mate to most of my friends, I felt anger, resentment, dejection and all type of negative emotions but surprisingly all of those emotions formed together and drove me to decide that it was my life and I had a right to choose what to make of it. I wasn’t going to lay the blame on my parents neither was I going to hand over decision making to fate or to my friends, it was mine and I was going to make the best of it!
Fast forward to years later, I graduated from the university with my BSc in International Relations & Politics. I was truly proud of my achievements, but I still had no clue of what to do with it especially with my never die spirit of wanting to make my parent proud and showing them how successful I could be without being a doctor. And boom! I got posted to Lagos for my NYSC where I got offered a place with a marketing agency. At first, it was a strange place to be but as the days began to roll by I fell in love with my duties, I fell in love with every single day most especially the learning process, I became passionate about the work in fact almost too passionate about it. So I got retained on the job after completing my NYSC. I saw the opportunity to become something I had only dreamed of and I took it and ran with it.
And in 4 years, I rose above all my bitter emotions, rose above all my mates that were my senior mates when I had to repeat a class, I saw my life taking shape, I love the woman I have become and still becoming as a Marketing Communications professional, a daughter, a wife, friend to many and above all I made my parents proud (even though I lost my dad along the way) I know he is proud of my achievements.
What am I saying dear sisters? You will face some form of setback along your journey. Or might get to a crossroad where you have a completely different view from your parents/guardians/friends on how your life should be formed. Don’t see it as a conspiracy against you. Rather decide in your heart to achieve better, be better. Dream on, You can actually be anything you want to be as long as you have a dream, believe in it and work hard to see that dream being fulfilled.
Your future is so bright!
Lots of Love
Eniola
thebigsisterinitiative.com 