I grew up loving the whole idea of looking beautiful behind a seat and reading off a sheet or screen.
I wanted to be a newscaster so Mass Communication was the answer.
However, i got to the university only to realise that news-reading wasn’t even a course.
I met courses like Graphics of Mass Communication, News writing, Photo-Journalism,e.t.c
Needless to say i was shocked.
All i want to do is read. Not all these hard courses. What has it got to do with looking pretty on TV?!
Don’t blame me.
I was fresh out of Secondary School and didn’t have much knowledge on how things worked.
I eventually adapted and discovered there were innate skills that were sharpened by those courses.
I began to understand me: my strengths, likes, dislikes, talents.
I saw the path i naturally drifted to and it positively affected my grades in courses like English, Feature and Article writing, Broadcasting e.t.c
When i left the university, i decided that i might do a thing or two with the print media but i must read news on TV.
I also realised i liked to talk about issues so i quickly added OAP to my ‘newscaster-ambition’.
It all worked out in my head till rubber met the road.
I went to broadcast stations, submitted CVs, went for interviews and got turned down.
No job! Nothing!
That they said ‘no’ was not the worst part.
Naa.
It was the fact that it would take them months to say no!
Wasting my time, wasting the money spent on frequent visits to their office, wasting my hopes!
I couldn’t keep staying at home. I needed to go out.
I re-wrote the CV severally and began applying for the position of a teacher, teller, correspondent, customer relations officer, administrative clerk, supervisor, receptionist, marketer…everything!
In fact, i actually went to a hotel and was told they needed a waitress.
I would have gladly accepted but that guy said i didn’t have previous work experience!
But Oga, shebi it’s just to serve tea??
OK, i can learn naa.
All the while, the desire to express myself was becoming strong.
I wanted to speak (and sing) words that provide direction, give encouragement and walk someone through a phase of their life.
Truthfully, that day i needed that job as a waitress but deep down i didn’t want it.
I needed a job but not just any job. It had to be the radio or TV!
I thought i wouldn’t be able to live out my dreams and express my desires if i don’t get a job as an OAP. Or how else would i reach people the way i wanted to?
How would i, if i signed up for any of those other things i was applying for?
Finally, i got a job as a marketer, an editor and later as a home tutor but i was still pinning for a time when i’d speak.
Gradually, i was becoming inflexible.
The temptation to carry on half-heartedly with the tutoring job was there.
I kept asking myself what it had to do with my dream, my goal, my big picture?
“This is not what i planned .This is not where i should be. This road doesn’t lead to the place i’m going”, i’d often think.
It felt like i was going the opposite direction.
Currently, i work in the Human Resources and Administration department of an organisation.
I remember almost disregarding the opportunity when it came.
I’m glad i didn’t.
Now, i’m beginning to learn that sometimes you flow with the tide, hoping and trusting you reach land safely.
I’ve not reached yet. I still want to speak and sing. I still want to motivate, inspire and create positive, long -lasting impact in the lives of people.
Yes, i still love the idea of reading and presenting but reminiscing on the journey thus far, i discover i had already started living my dreams.
I had begun towing the path without even realising it.
Apart from the people around me who seek for advice on issues, my job entails i speak to people on daily basis. I’ve not just collected CVs and issued queries.
The highlights have been saying something helpful to a colleague who’s having a bad day and being able to relate with an applicant’s struggles even as i say, ‘’no vacancy’’ – the same things i was longing to do on TV and radio.
Now, i don’t just see a job. I see people. I see me. I see purpose.
I realise that i can still be me in several ways, doing varied stuff.
I’m not fixated on what i think i should have been. I’m learning to adapt, to maximise the now.
I’m learning to walk with God, to “trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus…”
You know that song, right?
I still don’t have it all figured out but i choose to take the route in front of me rather than wallow in indecision and deal with regrets later.
I’m still learning. I make mistakes but i choose to be on this path.
This path where i don’t need to wait for perfect conditions nor the dream job to do what i know i can do…to be who I am.
Maybe like me, you have your own big picture.
An image that makes your heart beat faster. The ‘one place’ you’ve always wanted to go.
A place where you know you’d be fulfilled and satisfied.
It might not be job- related. It might be going further in your education, becoming the best at what you do, starting up your own company, heeding the call of God on your life…
Start where you are with what you already have.
Be excellent at it.
If there are better places you think you should be, go there.
However, if for some reasons you can’t be at that desired spot. Then, treat the available like it was the desired.
Enjoy it. Give it the needed attention and zeal you would have given ‘the place’.
You may not know it but there are valuable lessons you can learn on this spot, at this stage of your life.
Lessons that would come in handy when you eventually get to ‘the place’.
You may have been experiencing too many detours already but who says you won’t get there?
Be open-minded. Be flexible.
Be willing to adapt.
Be you.
In whatever shade. In whichever way.In whatever circumstance.BE YOU!
There may be ‘one place’ but it’s allowed and it’s possible to have several routes.
Explore.
Live in the moment.
Live to the fullest.
