2021 Moments💜

Hi there!

Before you begin, just know I wrote this post for myself.

Then I wrote it for you; I hope you are able to learn something from it. Just wanted you to have this in mind

This post is long overdue, but better late than never. I have had mixed feelings whether or not to put all what I had in my head and heart into writing. I did not intentionally delay but it seems anytime I have to write something like this I just gradually lose the confidence to do so. But I felt it strongly to put this into writing. Even though it took months to bring myself to do this.

Yes, I started writing this post on my way to Lagos, after expecting resumption(we were supposed to start our exams, but a protest happened, some vandalism here and there; and the school was closed indefinitely)

So before we jump right into the main part I will like to give a recap of how everything began.

I started this year, 2021 hopeful. I was very hopeful. I had spent 2020 watching from the sidelines, disappointments from different corners while also having biggg dreams with the mindset to dare to fail in 2021.

So yes, I took a new notebook which I got from my Aunt in 2020 and highlighted all my goals which I hoped to achieve in the year 2021. I don’t know what came over me. I guess I was just determined to write them down, and believe they will come to pass. Before then I had also read a verse from Habakkuk about writing out goals for myself

At the beginning of the year, I had applied for an opportunity. I was so hopeful about it because I was told back then in 2020 to apply January 2021. I felt my application will be successful. Turns out it was not. I felt serious pain😂at that time. I was even more hurt when I did not get a response. Anyways, I moved on with life. Moving on with life, I celebrated my birthday and i had a good time. I got two cakes from my friends, had fun and I prayed to God to help me in the new phase of my life.

Moving from January to April. Life continued. Something happened in April which I want to share with you. So, I got an opportunity which at that time I did not believe it was going to come through.
I had read from a profile of someone on LinkedIn on one sunny Sunday afternoon. He had interned in a firm and I wanted to intern there as well. But they were not calling for applications. So I sent a DM to this person, just to find out how he got the opportunity to intern there. But I got no response 🥴. After waiting for two days for a reply, I sent my application to the firm regardless. To God be the glory people, I got innn😊. It still remains a huge thing for me. I loved it even though it was virtual. Even more so with the fact that I was in school while the internship was ongoing. I was so glad I was able to manage it with my academics.

So my point here is : some times go and knock on the door for opportunities 😂

To My WIPO Win

I have always felt the need to write my heart out regarding the WIPO Win. At a point I wanted to stop, I just felt it was not necessary, but now more than ever I feel the need to share it because I will love to look back someday and reminisce on those moments and see how God made them just for me. Also, I hope my story can motivate somebody never to give up and still continue to try.

Yes, I participated in WIPO’s maiden edition in 2020. As at that time I was at my cousin’s place at Akure. It was the Covid period so I was basically doing nothing and was getting really fedup with everything. Now, regarding my participation in the WIPO 2020 edition I feel it was God’s plan for me and I had a great support system, my baby cousin. She encouraged me to participate in any competition even though she never knew exactly what they were about. All she knew was that I was going to get a prize and I would get her something. (Hahaa)

So I wrote the essay in 2020. When I was done I sent it to someone to edit and help correct my grammatical errors.

While researching course of my research, I had come to love intellectual property law. In my school, Intellectual Property Law is an elective for 300 level students and I offered the course. At that time, I was not really into the course as I was recently introduced to IP and Copyright but IP was not new to me either.

I enjoyed the research process on the topic for the competition. But in terms of the content of the essay, to be honest I was not ready. My essay was highly plagiarized. I just copied points from the internet without tweaking it and making an original point from what I got. No originality or creativity.

Also, I participated then mainly because of the prizes. One of the prizes that stood out to me was the Distance Learning course in South Africa for one of the winners. So, here I was determined to write this essay anyhow and go to south Africa. Plix, I love good things😊. I loved that prize to the extent I dreamt about it that I was there. The funniest part was that I dreamt I stayed at a family friend’s place when I went there . It was all chill to me. Until the day the result of the essay was announced.

So July 29 2020, I connected via zoom and the results were being announced. They started with number 15.(in my heart I was like, yes, your south Africa dream is coming throughhhh) number 14 down to number 5. When I saw the names and people that were called it became clear to me that I was not going to get a chance( At this point I was getting really sadd).

So they called number 5 to number 1. I was devastated. I was happy for them but in my heart I was sad. I remember calling my Friend, Bukunmi and I cried on the phone. Why I cried was because my South Africa dream did not happen. I did not know God had better plans for me. Looking back now, I can imagine how fired up I was to write in 2021 and even win 😂

From that moment, I made up my mind to write it next year. Maybe this time I would focus more on the content of the essay. The creativity and originality and maybe, just maybe I would get the prize. (The South Africa Dream)

May 2021

Honestly, I had forgotten about the WIPO essay. Until one day as I scrolled through my LinkedIn page, I came across a post regarding the essay. So I decided to write it. However, I had commitments in school and it felt like I was not going to have the time to write the essay. I had just taken the role of the President of my School’s IP Law Club, as it was a new club, we had to do registration, create awareness, and even begin the recruitment process for members. Plus my school work, and having to ensure I read and continued with my Library life.

Despite all these, I still tried to write it. For 2 weeks, I just could not come up with anything original or creative. Yunno I said I was after a good content this time around. And I just was not seeing anything online when I was researching

Everything just looked like I was at a dead end. So one night, while I was researching, I cried to God about it. Told him I was not going to write if he did not help me. Asked for research authorities because I knew they were on Google but I was not just accessing them. I think that night was the beginning of the whole essay writing thing. God did help me greatly.

I began my research and I sawwwww a lot of research authorities. I read articles from people, infact it was like my eyes were opened to places I have earlier looked into but did not see. I was indeed very happy.

Even though I was making headway with the research and all, I still had school work to think of. My hostel as at that time was not helping matters as I had to fetch water consistently and I was having serious backaches. But still, I continued. There were times I had to take my bath, massage myself with balm(Aboniki), take Ibuprofen and still seat upright with a pillow at my back to continue researching and writing. Coupled with school work and assignments. It was painful but I thank God. I am here now😊

In the process of writing this essay, I got to realize somethings which I did not know back then in 2020. Yes, I could take ideas from the internet but it was not for me to put those ideas back into my essay but instead, those ideas served as yeast to the flour. So instead of copying them, the ideas spurred me to think deeply, widely and thoroughly on a particular point. So they were an eye-opener to what I could discuss in my essay.

Also, another thing which God made me do was that I realized no man is indeed an island of knowlege. So I read articles of winners of people whom I had grown to respect in the year 2020. I read their works, looked at how they collated their thoughts and points, what they emphasized on, what I felt made them stand out as winners and I equally used that in my essay. So my essay was basically a collection of what others had done as well. More like taking a cue from others.

Alrighty, back to the day I was to submit. Yes I only sent this essay to my IP lecturer who basically couched my points and ideas in a better way.

The day I submitted, I prayed to God for attention to details. I am not too good in that area as I can recount some essays I have written where I left out an instruction that was required of me to do. So I did not want that to happen and I prayed my heart out to God again.

After a thorough crosschecking with the help of God, I sent my essay. That night I was just too weak and I had to cry to bed . I prayed to God for good success and I just continued crying. Omooo, the song I slept off with was 'Your goodness’ by Dunsin Oyekan as it really helped me during this period. Listening to worship songs helps me a lot as it brings me in this state of remembrance of God’s continuous and steadfast love to me always. It also helps me to destress, to pray my worries and doubts out and accept what God says about how he is always ready to help me.

On the D-Day of announcement

After I sent my essay, I continued my school life. Reading, setting up my IP Law Club and even writing exams. I kept on praying about the submission process as I knew I had submitted and there was no going back to correct anything. I prayed my people. I don’t think there was a day I did not say a short prayer about it😂. I just really wanted God to just crown my efforts with good success.

So after my exams, I returned back to Lagos. I got an email about the announcement of winners for the competition. At that point I was not so eager, Maybe because I had participated in it back then in 2020. And I had the nostalgic feeling from the mail I read in 2020 when I was not part of the winners. I just forgot about it and tried my best not to think about it.

The day came. I was in my room with my Sister. After the educative part, I was waiting for the time for the announcement and here it was.

So they started from number 18. Omo as at that point, I can’t lie I was nervous 🥺 but I kept on watching. From 18, 17,16,15,14,13,12, 11 ,10,9. At this point I was worrriedddd. Now my mind did not everr think I was going to be among the first three. What I had in mind in that moment was I just I wanted to be part of the 18 winners. Fast forward to 9,8,7,6,5,4.. Now I was super worrriedddd. At this point I started losing hope here. I remember giving the phone to my Sister that she should hold it. In my words 'Ore see I did not get it abegg' Then the man calling the winners was like:

“ and this one is a female, all the way from Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko”

and my sister screameeeeeeeeedd very loud FAM. At first when he said this person is a female , I thought I heard male, so my facial expression was this emoji😔 I lost hope. Until when my Sister screamed and it dawned on me that I was the one.

Like I shouteddddd. I was so happy. My Dad legit ran into the room thinking something was wrong. When we told him, he was so happy and proud of his daughter😄

I think the time I screamed that loud was when I got an internship I was not expecting and the HR was so so sweet to me in the email she sent.

Writing this out can never give a full grasp of how happy I was. It is still something I guess. My heart leaped for joy. My mind was still trying to wrap my head around it. My thoughts were in different places at once. I was legit so happy and anytime I think of it I still remain happy and joyful for those moments ❤️

I remain forever grateful to God who crowned my efforts with maximum success

Looking back, I just wanted to go to South Africa. I legit dreamt of it in 2020😊 and now in 2021 it became a reality (still covid is holding it down).

My Two Cents for you

From the moment I got this beautiful opportunity, I have tasted God’s goodness in my life daily. He has made lines fall in pleasant places for me.

When I participated in the 2020 edition, I did not give a good content but I was still ready to write because I saw something I wanted to have. Yes, it seemed achievable but I had not put in the work. So yeah all I did was I continued to dream big. I feel it is a very good thing to dream big. Infact I prefer dreaming big. To dream big makes one have great expectations. Sometimes you don’t even know how these dreams will be achieved but you still dream. My mantra since 2020 ever since I came across a picture has been to 'dream big and to dare to fail’. I feel we have a duty on our path to dream to the extent of what we want to become. No one can do this part for you. No one can give enough details to whatever your heart dearly yearns for. I used to be afraid of having high expectations but now I have realized when I cut short my expectations to fit into what people want it to be like for me or what I feel it should be like because so so and so said this, I begin to put a limit to what God can do in my life and to my innate capabilities.

P. T Barnum’s quote:

'If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a star”

I feel when I dream even if don’t achieve the exact thing I dreamt for, I am still close to it. I mean the sun is also a star too. So it means I am in the right place and sooner or later I may hit the right star for me.

On the other hand, I feel it is important that we never stop daring to fail. The thing about when you decide to pick yourself up to start again inspite of the rejections and disappointments is that you are daring failure. You are daring to see what the outcome can be like this time around. You don’t know how it is going to turn out but one thing is you never stop showing up. Even when I wrote the 2020 maiden edition for WIPO and I did not get in as a winner. I did not stop. Yes I cried because e pain me that time but then I did not stop participating in essay competitions. Before 2021, I had participated in about 4 competitions (if not more sef😂) and I did not get any. I saw this period as grooming, no doubt it was painful because at a point I just felt like maybe writing was for some people and I was not qualified to be part of these people. Even when 2021 came I still participated in another competition, that one sef I felt like I would get it, I did not. So you see, those disappointments helped me push myself to keep on trying. I believe I just have to keep trying because I truly may not be a qualified writer but someday I will write and I will be called out as a winner and at that point my writings will reflect the skills I have developed over time.

So learn to trust the process. I choose to trust the process. We should also never rule out the point that we are a work in progress. We are all just making efforts and someday our efforts will yield our desired results. I remain a work in progress.

Well, I enjoyed the Abuja Trip by WIPO. I learnt a lot about Intellectual Property and it was an opportunity to speak to some strategic people in these organisations such as NOTAP, SMEDAN and even the trademark Registry. Ohh I had the opportunity to ask the man who represented the registrar about the issue with Emoney and CBN. That moment remains priceless to me😂.

Also, I met beautiful souls with whom I have formed good friendships and I forever cherish. I also got to relate with Dr. Moody, OMG!! He is so polite and understanding. I always pray to be like him. The way he communicates, my God 🥺 . Even Madam Victoria😊 Her skin is like fresh milk. I love her and she made us feel welcomed and comfortable. I enjoyed every bit of the trip. Even during the mentoring session, my notepad was full. I remain grateful to every person who made the trip worthwhile. By the way, I was even at the UN House and I felt like a Delegate. Boya, it is UN work God will still call me to do sef 😂 Who knows 🙃

Life after WIPO

My life after WIPO has remained a continuous reminder of it. I remain so grateful for this opportunity and I am more committed to encouraging people to participate in it. Not just WIPO alone, but striving and putting one’s best in anything they can do.

I have also discovered my undying love for Intellectual property Law. I can research and read on it without getting bored. Maybe God wants me in the field. I do not know yet. I am still in 400 level, no rush yet.

Also, I am embracing life as a young girl and taking cute pictures whenever I have the opportunity. I always want to remember how I felt anytime I see any of my pictures.

And yes I am taking life one step at a time. Trusting God day in, day out and I hope you get to trust and believe in God too❤️

Adios!

Till when I write again😊

P.S: I am starting a newsletter, I will love for you to subscribe. Thank you❤️https://honour.substack.com/