Dear Young Folks,
On the morning of my 25th birthday, I sat on a rail beside Citee Oil at Mokola and began to weep uncontrollably. I was waiting for my NYSC posting while interning with an architectural firm at the time. I reminisce about the challenges ahead and thought to myself that I have come of age, and apparently no one will see the need to give a 25yrs old free cash for stipends repeatedly.
Due to my background and the society that I grew up from, it is expected that I should be fending for myself by that age which actually began 10yrs earlier as a sales boy at RAO shopping complex in Challenge. At 16, I was going to Lagos to procure compact discs in whole sales and resell. By 19, I worked as a labor in a block moulding company in Saki to live through my national diploma. I worked as a painter to assist myself through my HND days few years ago.
I know the pressure on you is high, I can understand how you feel too. But one thing that changed it all for me, is understanding from that morning of my 25th birthday the need to be responsible for myself. I decided if I can’t grab a skill, I’ll remain a laborer for life, so I opted to live with Wole Adebayo who taught me how to use AutoCAD. In my first week of getting posted to my PPA, I began to make money to sustain myself.
The success you see with people today that endear them to you is a result of age long years of sacrifices and trying something new and different in places where persistency is not yielding results. In “unstoppable” by @themisterrain he said there might be a growing need to “function somewhere else; be valuable in other places and other industries. The advantages basically puts you ahead of others most of the time.”
Today, what will look easy with my versatility is as a result of my age long years of trying different things even though it is only architecture that I have continuously mastered. But cover writing, blogging, punditry, brand management/marketing/influencing, and social media marketing have paid most of my day to day bills.
Rather than go into people’s DM to ask for 2k, ask them what you can do for them to earn a pay.
Thank you @timiakindelephotography for this image
