LET'S GET TO KNOW ME!

Hello, Dearest.

Thank you for choosing to ride on this journey with me. I've been thinking, how is it really going to be like but then, having you viewing this article is enough to cheer me up.

Well, I'd like to tell you a little about myself. I want you to get familiar with me because this journey it's going to be an amazing ride.

My name is Semiloore Olaore, a 400L Nursing student in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). I am the third of the four children that my parents gave birth to. I came from an average class family. My dad is a business man who is into furniture making and interior designs while my mom is a Trader.

Sit tight, the journey is about to get merrier (smiles).

You know, I've always wanted to be a Medical Doctor right from my primary school days. Being a very bright student, I would often tell my teachers that when I grow up, I would love to become a Doctor. This vision of mine became deeper when I got to Junior secondary school where I read Ben Carson's book “Gifted hands”.

If you are a GenZ Nigerian student and you didn't read gifted hands while growing up, this is me looking at you with a bombastic side eye (????).

That's on a lighter mood though (smiles).

I read gifted hands and my passion to become a Medical doctor took a new turn. I specified what I wanted! I want to be a NEUROSURGEON like Ben Carson.

Don't laugh at me oo! We all experienced that while growing up. We wanted to be like people we see or read about... Believe me, those moments are so beautiful because it formed most of the lifestyles we lived then.

I've always been a bookie (lover of books) but that love for reading became more to the extent that I had to make an artwork for myself and pasted it in my room. What I wrote under the drawing was (Let's welcome Semiloore Olaore, the best neurosurgeon in the world).

So you can tell that I'm a lover of artworks and books. Anything I visualize, it's either I make a rough sketch of it or look for the picture of someone that became that thing I want to become and paste it in my room or save it as my wallpaper (just like I have Olusola Owonikoko's picture as my wallpaper because his picture represented what I want to see in my life in the next few years).

You can call that method Vision boarding (the ability to create a pictorial representation of your visions and goals, be it short time or long time on a board. It can even be about your dream life).

Let's continue with my story.

So, my passion kept growing day by day and it became deeper again when I watched a particular Korean movie in SS1, titled DOCTORS.

Please, don't laugh at me as you are reading this. I watched Korean movies then o (smiles).

Pause...

Can you see how what I read and watched shaped my passion and guided my lifestyle during that period? Just because I read and watched about becoming a neurosurgeon, my passion increased which forced me to study more and make more researches). That's why what you see matters alot! What you take in matters alot! It is not what you see that shapes your ideology, it is how you take it in or how your brain interpretes what you see that actually shapes one's ideology.

During my senior year in school, I pursued more and studied more because I had a vision in my heart. I told my teachers about my Passion and I got encouragements from them but guess what? Hmmmmm.... (Sipping water)

I got to a crossroad that shook my passion. It didn't just shook me but it tested my heart and reordered my Life.

Admission for Medicine didn't come! I tried all I could, my dad who was my major support then did all his best to get me into studying medicine but all effort went futile. I wrote jamb twice, passed well, yet, I didn't get medicine until Nursing came to pass!

NURSING?? Hell no! I'm definitely not going to do that (that was my mind when I got the admission).

Imagine getting what you don't like in a university you were forced to attend (smiles,). You can imagine how crazy it was then!

I cried! Ahh! So you mean I should accept Nursing? That was what I asked my dad when he told me to accept it because it's still closer to medicine.

It hurts so bad but then I accepted it but with another mission in mind. I would CROSS INTO MEDICINE when I get to 200L.

I started to read crazily again! I did night class almost everyday because I had a vision in mind and for it to come to pass, I must do well excellently.

I gave it my best and I finished my 100L with a first class (4.79 CGPA).

I was happy that because to some extent i should be able to cross in but guess what? That year medicine department decided not to take in any crossing students!

Ahhh!

When I heard it, it was as if a part of me died. I don't want to do Nursing. I really do not like Nursing. I could remember the first class I had in nursing school (foundation of Nursing), I was just staring at the lecturer, nothing was entering my head. I went out and cried. I couldn't contain it anymore and I called my dad telling him I don't want to do nursing.

God bless my daddy! That man really tried for me.

He told me to continue with it and soon, it would get clearer. This made me to make up my mind to give my best to whatever my hands find doing even though it wasn't what I wanted.

But guess what?

Here I am today, happily studying Nursing. So proud to be a Nurse in view. Probably God knew that was the best for the assignments he has for me that's why he had to break me so that he can mould me into becoming that which is in his mind.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

He knows it all even when we don't understand. Here I am today, loving what I hated years ago. Finding fulfilments in what I thought it couldn't make me and give me the life I wanted.

Writing this is one of the fulfilments I find in Nursing. I want to share my story and my experiences with as much students I can.

Most times, life will not go the way you planned it but you can always trust God as he orders your steps.

Once again, Semiloore Olaore is my name. I am a Nursing Student, a writer, a project manager and a Mental Health Advocate. I run an NGO organization for mental health named Menthali and our Vision is to promote quality Mental, social and emotional wellbeing among people in the Global community.

Watch out for my subsequent articles as we walk this journey together.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Semiloore.