MY JOURNEY THROUGH 2021

Hellooo, how are you doing? A bit cold, I guess🙃

2021 has been eventful for us all, and I’m confident you can attest to that.

I started the year with my usual goal-setting thing, and I had a list of defining achievements for the year — a couple of which I did and a more significant number I couldn’t do.

Well, I have this diary that was a gift from a representative of Durham University during the Study UK — British Council event in Calabar;

I use it as my routine journal for tasks, experiences, gratitude etc.; I randomly read through it as a reminder of my growth process.

Perusing through my journal again has created the nostalgic effect of my anticipation for the year.

I had planned to get my international passport, learn French, and practice playing a musical instrument to pay for being one of the few ladies on earth who suck at singing.

Did I meet my goals? Let’s discover as we take a short read together.

MY EXPERIENCES

This very one, all I can say is “omo”; I started the article by saying that the year had been eventful because indeed “I have seen shege”.

Going back to school after the COVID 19 lockdown, my daily reality was like a repetition of the previous day.

I’m a student of Nursing Science in UNICAL but a greater part of my interest lies in humanitarian work than bedside Nursing.

Probably because I’m not fond of repetitive activities or better still because I love traveling and volunteering than anything else.

So heading back to school after such a “hoooggeee” break utilized in non-school-related stuff made things somewhat difficult.

As a result, my cumulative experience was non-aligned.

There were times where I was involved in a couple of unplanned activities.

I made losses and failed at some things.

I felt unloved, pissed, sad, tired and weird.

And yeah, I did random things like discarding some properties and even had a haircut.

I’m keen on feeding you the details; stay with me, let dive in.

MY TRIPS

This year, I embarked on too many trips for a broke person with little finance.

It started in January with a trip to Abuja and ended with my incredible visit to the West sometime in October.

I live in Calabar and had to navigate my radar to Abuja early this year to attend a National training event in Abuja hosted by AIESEC; a Youth-led social impact organization that I work with.

Nasarawa, Niger and Lokoja are close to Abuja, so my friends and I visited all 4 states.

Gone are the days when you kill two birds with one stone… we aced 4 freaking birds😂, states literally.

My major highlight was visiting Gurara waterfall in Niger state — a subtle reminder that nature is beautiful.

Departure drew closer and we extended our return date by some days to enable us make a proper travel plan. We decided to use a train from Itakpe in Lokoja to Ujevwu in Delta.

Despite our multiple plans, we missed the train by a minute, so much for excessive planning.

We had to sleep in Kogi state, ate this roadside Mishai {noodles} that tasted like garbage though and dragged our boxes to a hotel room that seems devoid of human existence.

I finally got home, and my Dad was proud of his daughter for living in diversity.

— — — — — — -

My next trip was my visit to Enugu;

I was not so excited as the previous one because I had been to the city on different occasions in the past.

However, the fascinating experience was the tourist visit to Ezimo waterfall in Nsukka; one of the tallest waterfalls in Nigeria, with a height of 250ft.

I didn’t get to visit nearby states like the previous journey, I know I failed my fans, but I’ll do better next year.

July had me revisiting the heart of Nigeria’s finance, Lagos and it was the most challenging travel decision I ever made.

Reasons?

My school adjusted its academic calendar a few days to my travel date.

I had a couple of tests and presentations to take in school, and I had an obligation to represent my team in Lagos.

I did both, and both suffered; this is not a fairy tale movie where every decision ends well.

I had an unstable stay in Lagos; I didn’t visit any tourist sites, just a travel experience without fun.

I grew my network technically and visited Edo, Benin City, but still had zero fun.

My next trip was to the West.

Traveling to Akure, Ife, and Ibadan, are the best tour experiences I had this year; I spent almost a month in the West.

In Akure, I was part of the team that planned and implemented a top-notch national training seminar for over 150 delegates.

I also witnessed and participated in actual corporate and noncorporate sales, visited Olumirin waterfall {Erin Ijesha}, and visited the Federal University of Technology, Akure.

I went outside to chill with friends, switched off my devices for the more significant time I stayed there and lingered extra days in the city before leaving for Ife; I had fun this time, mad one.

My next stop was Ife, and If only I could scream Ife through this write-up, I won’t hesitate.

My visit to Ife was my escape room from stress. I relaxed, ate, had constant electricity to do whatever I wanted, and had a good time.

I visited Obafemi Awolowo University and fell in love with the school’s architectural structure.

I went mountaineering with friends, visited the Ooni of Ife’s palace to pay homage to Oduduwa and finally had some sumptuous Amala and Egusi.

Please don’t drag me for not having Ewedu, I had it before, so I decided to try something else.

Ooni of Ife’s palace

While planning this trip to the West, I also had it in mind to touch down Ilorin and Lagos, but Sapa smiled at me.

My last trip for the year was to Ibadan;

This one was chill, more like a personal time.

Upon arrival, a friend took us to have peppered pomo and catfish pepper soup; I really chilled and bambam’ed with the big boys😂.

The next day, I visited the University of Ibadan and its amazing zoo, it was a fantastic experience.

Zoo experience: I was scared of that Giraffe; for real.

I left for Calabar the following day to avoid getting choked with piled academic activities.

MY WINS

I won in many instances, and even when I failed, I still considered it a win.

Some wins did stand out; I’ll mention a few:

• Successfully got into the Millenium Campus Fellowship for the 2021 cohort organized by the United Nations.
• Became a Student Ambassador to one of the fastest-growing Fintech companies in Nigeria, Cowrywise.
• Began my role as Vice president {Operations Manager} for Sales and Customer experience in AIESEC in Calabar, Nigeria.
• Got selected to be part of the Operations team for AIESEC in Moldova, Europe.
• Ventured into Product management and joined the Mavens, becoming a substantial stakeholder for our Product CUBBICCLE.
• Carved a Niche for myself in writing; I wrote CVs, cover letters, medical and technical articles, professional emails and business proposals for money.
• Got into perfumery, sold and still sell perfume oils.
• Finally concluded my Upwork account set up and applied for a few jobs.

Pheww..

Repping the cowryrwise brand because saving is of utmost importance

My closest girls are winning, too; one is into Business design. The other is doing fantastic with UI/UX design; another is into Amazon publishing and copywriting. The list goes on, more like a gang win.

I’ll say my most significant win of the year is getting elected as President of AIESEC in Calabar for the 2022–2023 year. I will be starting my year as the Branch Director of the Largest youth-run Organisation globally; that’s a lot.

I have responsibilities for 2022, and I’m using my last days in 2021 to define my direction for next year. I’ve honestly grown.

SETBACKS AND LOSSES

I started my year in a very terrible financial state.

In 2020, I had invested in an intangible business with the hope to make returns by 2021, but the reverse was the case.

My most immense hurt was losing the money I saved to get a laptop😥.

I had to use the remaining funds to travel to Abuja.

I constantly reminded myself that “if I perish, I perish” after all, something must kill a man; I lost money, but life goes on.

Money aside, I lost friends.

I unconsciously reduced my inner circle to the barest minimum, it was unplanned, but it happened.

I also got rejected for jobs that I qualified for because of my Undergraduate status.

Lastly, I had a terrible weight loss experience; at a time, I weighed less than 49kg and I was like: how could a full-grown adult with 32 teeth weigh that little?

I don’t keep count of my imperfect experiences, but I’m sure I had more losses than I can remember.

MY LOVE LIFE

……In the mud!

It’s like my village people knew that I just wanted to try my hands on relationships, and they helped me end them even faster.

I got into love, and love went into me on different occasions, but it lasted not.

My emotional experience was shitty, and I understood why towards the end of the year.

I realized that, at various intervals, I liked different people and wanted to be with them but short term.

One thing was apparent; I cared less about self-love with more focus on US.

I would say I loved in fear and over-thought things.

In all, I met cool guys this year, but my taste in Men remains unchanged.

Men that are calm, devoted, simple, intelligent, eloquent in speech and Techy are my Achilles heels, no Cap.

I recently started having a thing for interracial combos but let’s not go there; we take life a step at a time.

MY ACADEMICS

This part of me is a bit lazy;

I don’t know if it’s because of the flawed academic system or the course of study.

Whichever way, I’m just sure I can be a lazy student sometimes.

The highlight of my academics this year was the Hospital experience.

Psychiatric posting, Special ward posting, and General concentrated ward posting.

We had intense moments caring for patients. I witnessed people struggle to live; some died, some got critical, and others survived.

I saw people deal with mental and behavioral disorders, Bipolar affective disorders, and Schizophrenia due to addictions like drugs and the likes.

Cases like amputation resulting from causes like road traffic accidents constantly got me emotional because they are preventable.

Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

Terminal illnesses like Advanced Cancer, Advanced Heart diseases, Neurological diseases, Lung diseases etc., became more realistic as I saw people struggle with them.

I learnt to appreciate life and live healthily because, indeed, it’s easier to prevent an illness than it is to cure a disease.

There are many more intensive occasions that I may not be able to share details to because the story is getting lengthy, and I would want to round up already.

MY SADDEST MEMORY

I lost my Dad this year to the cold hands of death just after my best travel experiences.

Sometime in October, I returned to Calabar from Ibadan. Popsi {as I fondly call him,} and I didn’t have a lot of talking time before my journey to Ibadan because I was avoiding the usual parental overprotection during travels.

On the 1st of November, I received a scary message from my brother; my Dad was in the hospital, and it was critical.

I immediately put a call across to speak with him. I got contented after hearing from him, but I still wanted to see him.

On the 5th of November, I left school to Ibom Specialist Hospital in Uyo, a neighboring city to Calabar, where He was receiving treatment.

I found myself crying after seeing him because it dawned on me that it was indeed critical.

He got infused with over six pints of blood, most of which He lost.

He was scheduled for an Endoscopy but was too unstable to undergo it because his oxygen saturation percentage was imbalanced.

The medical personnel alternated between the nasal oxygen and the mask, but the fluctuation persisted.

The Hospital bills were already reading in millions, but there was no improvement.

As a student nurse, I was pretty acquainted with most of those clinical manifestations, and it made me more curious.

I approached the doctor on duty to find out the honest prognosis, and she spilt.

I cried again, this time with fear because I knew what my Dad didn’t know.

At about 5 pm, He had an anal loss of coagulated blood.

Before 6 pm, his pulse became faint, his respiration irregular, his blood pressure unstable.

The doctors and Nurses intervened with Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, but it had no significant effect.

I noticed the body language of the medical team after they observed the dilation of the pupils; I cried again, this time without hope.

He was gone, gone forever.

Photo by Dev Asangbam on Unsplash

IN SUMMARY

Every year comes with uncertainties, many unplanned occurrences, some happy and unhappy moments.

There might be setbacks behind the Spontaneous trips and extensive network of friends.

Besides collective growth and professional advancement, you may need more alone time to have a better-defined life and ambition, but in all, stay focused and happy.

As much as possible, set goals and write them down.

Take beautiful pictures and make memories out of every and anything.

Goal settings and Resolutions may sound Cliche, but they help keep us on track and serve as a spotlight to what we never planned but achieved.

I honestly didn’t achieve many of my plans, but I did above average, and I’m proud of that.

I hope to do better in 2022, but until then, we stay winning.

Happy New Year in Advance; I hope my year review passed a message. I enjoyed the writing process and hope to write more often next year.

Follow me and subscribe to my mail to get notifications when I publish new content. I Love you and hope to see you winning next year.

Stay Jiggy.