THE TALE OF A 21+ YOUTH
These days have proved to be trying times especially to many of us that have been confined to the walls of our homes due to the raging coronavirus. Yet, the pressure to succeed hasn’t lost its strength. Many mornings, I drag myself from bed with the sole purpose of doing something productive, and find myself getting in bed at night with nothing to show for the day that just passed. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, I get it, however, knowing this doesn’t loosen the suffocating grip my career, or the lack of one, has on me.
The internet has made the world a better place. Information you don’t go looking for sometimes come to you. Many times, we hear stories of young people aged between 18–25 becoming legitimate millionaires. Some wonderful stories will start with tales of woe, dropping out of school, being homeless, and so on, and end with how they amazingly created an empire for themselves. Sometimes the stories are too good to be true. And here I am, with a degree and some certifications, still trying to make a living for myself.
Social media is the worst, I mean no offence to anybody, or company, but personally LinkedIn does two (2) things for me. It motivates me to try harder and not give up, yet it makes feel like the slowest person in the world.
I won’t lie this looks like I am ranting (*whispers* I actually am, but no one needs to know). Well, these words are borne out of a heavy mind, as I keep asking myself, ‘what on earth is wrong with you? Why are your peers ahead and you’re still struggling?’ I do not have all the answers to these questions and it is quite burdensome. However, I decided to focus on somethings that I will share with you shortly.
· Keep learning
· Keep trying
· Keep networking (Surround yourself with the right people)
· Be focused
· Keep believing in yourself
· And don’t compare yourself with anybody
The six points above have helped me keep my head above water. So, although I feel swamped by uncertainty and fear, I try as much as possible to keep learning. Someone said, ‘to keep earning, you need to keep learning’. I try as much as possible to upskill and learn as much as I can in my field of work (and sometimes beyond). I also daily encourage to keep trying and not to give up. I have taken it upon myself to keep networking with people, and honestly, LinkedIn has been a very helpful platform in that aspect. I have connected with people that I know I might never had had the opportunity to meet.
One thing I always struggle with is FOCUS. There are many interesting fields of work today, and they come with varying skills. It is very good to be dynamic and have a wild range of skillset, however, I always say that it is more important to have many skills in a field, than to have one skill in many fields, just as the old saying goes, ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. Hence, I purposed within me to not be tossed to and fro by the multitudes of skills, but be focused.
Believing in myself and not comparing myself with others are big tools I intend in employing as I continue on this journey. It is important to know that we are our biggest fans. Therefore, believing in ourselves will definitely help us move closer to achieving our goals. So is not comparing ourselves with other people. That is the greatest disservice to ourselves. No one was created to be like another. We are different people for a purpose, we should explore that difference instead of comparing ourselves.
Here is a short exposition on my thoughts and experience in the past months. I hope to expatiate more on these points that helped me in a later post, and that’s a promise.
Till then, please keep safe and healthy.
Thanks for reading!!