How It All Began, My Accidental Journey into Mediation- Diary of DML, (Episode 1)

The story about how I "accidentally" stumbled upon Mediation cannot be complete without taking you down memory lane. 

I had an amorous relationship with failure from my university days. I was failing practically every compulsory course and sitting for them again. To the glory of God and by a stroke of divine providence I had just an extra year to clear the backlog and I eventually finished with a very solid third class. 

With that, I proceeded to law school not with the intention of passing with good grades but my aim was to not fail. If you've never been in this situation, you probably would not understand that there's a difference between not failing and passing with flying colours.

So back to my story, armed with my Third class and a Pass, the job search began and of course it was not an easy one as most law firms were on the look out for 2.1s and the likes (I intend to address this in future posts, story for another day).

When I couldn't get any job, I had no choice but to settle for litigation. Because I didn't have any choice, I had to make do with what I had. I stayed in litigation for one simple reason - I knew all the things I didn't want to do (litigation, not working in a corporate organisation or the legal department of any company), but I didn't know what I wanted to do. I still wanted to do something within the confines of the law and so I was just like a boat sailing without oars( living an accidental life).

I remember with fond memories how I wrote my intentions for Mass (Catholics would understand this) asking God to let me know the purpose for which I was created. My late mum would even tease me, saying that if after a decade in active practice, I didn't know what I wanted to do then only God knows when I would figure it out. Mind you, I was already 11 years at the bar in full active litigation so while my peers had high hopes and aspirations of becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the thought never crossed my mind for once.

Due lack of clarity at the time, I ended up spending over a decade doing something I didn't enjoy. Young people of today are actually very lucky to have so much information at their disposal, with social media you can also learn so much. There are many enlightening programs organized to help people find their calling and purpose. How well are you taking advantage of the opportunities? Next week, I'll talk about how I moved past this confusion and how my whole world changed as I accidentally stumbled on Mediation! 

Can you relate with this story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section. I'll be needing all the encouragement to write my next post.