Reflections at 39!
Yesterday on July 4, 2022, I turned 39! one year to the proverbial age of 40, when they say a fool at 40 is a fool forever. For the past three years, my birthday theme has been 'gratitude'. I have been amazed, how year after year, despite the challenges I have faced in the course of my journey, I have also been incredibly blessed. I am surrounded by so much love, from family, friends and a small but tightly knit network of friends and associates who I continue to resource and also rely on to support me in my journey.
As I sit here in Paris, waiting for my connecting flight to Toronto, I am filled with gratitude for yet, the beginning of another year for me, and the opportunity to refresh, recharge and recalibrate. I will also offer 2 reflections on my journey so far:
Failure is not a permanent destination, it's a tiny event, a dot in the course of life: In life, I have had my own share of failures. I first tasted failure in SS1 going to 2, I crossed over to my alma-mater, Obokun High School from a private school. I spoke very good English and was smart, I however was carried away by the newfound freedom I experienced in a public school and didn't pay attention to the difference in the mode of teaching, as well as how teachers expect you to respond to exam questions. I also under-estimated that I have missed a whole term and so needed to work twice as hard to cover up, I was probably cocky that my private school background was enough. It, therefore, came as a rude shock at the end of the session, when I failed woefully and was asked to repeat the class. I cried myself out. I was too ashamed to attend classes in the first weeks of the new session, to join those I considered my junior then. Eventually, I did, dusted the failures behind me and went to compete as one of the best students in my class, representing the school in essay competitions (i followed in the steps of my elder brother, Kayode), as well as being nominated and appointed as a school prefect. Over the course of my life's journey, I have faced several other failures. I also recall applying for the first edition of The Mandela Washington Fellowship, in 2014, freshly launched by President Obama as part of his charm offensive on the African continent, I qualified for the interview phase, and when I arrived to be interviewed, I discovered I knew 2 out of 3 of the interviewers professionally and even cracking jokes with them during the interview, I was also confident that with the work I had done at that point, I was very positioned as an ideal candidate for the program, I was rejected. I stared at the email several times in disbelief. For my secondary school failure, I blamed myself, I under-estimated the level of work involved and admitted I didn't do enough, for the Mandela fellowship, I knew I had done enough work leading a non-profit to be admitted into the fellowship. I learned lots of lessons from both incidents. Failures do happen. I also learnt to be kind to anyone who fails in anything, context matters. Sometimes they're well prepared or other times they are not. Importantly, never allow the failures to set you back, pick up yourself and march forward. I have since 2014 even supported other younger people to review their Mandela Washington Fellowship applications as well as written recommendation letters for over 30 persons to win scholarships and fellowships all over the world.
Chasing Success: Many young people are looking to 'blow,' that golden ticket that affirms that Yes, I have arrived! I am now in the big league Lagos Big Boy Mode or Nairobi big babe! In reality, most of the sustainable successes you see around today didn't just happen, it takes a lot of hard work, and consistently working at it. I chuckle when many young people tell me that they want to build and run an organisation like YouthHubafrica, in my mind, I ask, can you put in the work, day in and out. Same with in many industries and most successes (with exceptions and context). Take Elon Musk's Space X for instance, launched in 2002, it wasn't until 2013 that the company launched the first commercial mission for a private customer, and it wasn't until 2022 when SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, a culmination of several years of incremental work and intense dedication.
I have spoken about successes and failures, for most people, in the course of your life, you will experience both. Just remember that failure is not a permanent destination, it's a tiny event in your journey and several years later, you will write about it and chuckle, the pain will be gone and for success, build on your daily habits, prepare for a long haul and be consistent!
NB: To celebrate my birthday, I am giving out ten books:
5 copies of Unbound, written by my good friend Verlaine Diane
2 copies of Finding Me by Viola Davis
3 copies of Becoming by Michelle Obama
All the books I am donating, are authored by women. If you have followed my work over the last few years, you won't be surprised.
To win any of these books, kindly drop a comment on this blog post telling me your reflections on my post as well as how I, my work or our work at Youthhubafrica has influenced or impacted you over time. I will pick the ten winners randomly. Note: Winners have to be in Nigeria (i don't have the capacity to ship internationally)
If you're unable to drop a comment here, please send me an email on rotimi (at) youthhubafrica dot org
