2024 - A Year In Part Review

Kun et gr?nt fjeder p??

Today, I ‘facilitated’ a Townhall in Danish. Cringe, barely starts to describe how I felt.

If, Reader, you are looking for a ‘nails on chalkboard with a sprinkle of Nigerian’ experience for a group of 150+ Danish colleagues, feel free to hit me up. Miraculously, at the end of the session, I walked into a round of applause from the team that put me up to this endeavour. Strange things tend to happen in the workplace on Tuesday afternoons because suddenly there I am, with saline solution from only who knows where, gathering in my eyes.

If you asked me why I choose on my own volition to subject myself to public embarrassment with my 'rickety' Danish language skills, I would tell you that it is because I was dared and I don’t back down from a dare.

This is not true.

Between you and me, I did it because of a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a Danish colleague. I was sharing how I sometimes found it difficult to have full blown conversations in Danish because it requires so much energy and concentration. I feel like a child, I had complained.

Then my colleague responded, ‘I feel that way sometimes speaking English.’

This took me by surprise and in the few seconds that followed, ?it felt like I was being handed a vulnerability. So I wrapped my hands tightly around it and kept it close to my chest.

When I walked into the townhall this afternoon, one of the last meetings in a day full of meetings, I really did not feel in the mood to do something ‘hard and unnecessary’ like speaking Danish at work.

Then I thought to myself:

Was it not fair for me to try and take a step towards meeting said colleague in this way?

So I decided last minute, I would speak.

Walking into an unexpected round of applause was really the highlight of my day. I would recommend it as a great pick me up but key to note is that the surprise element needs to be there. I felt like this was the kindest of gestures and I was in fact very touched to receive praise for damaging people’s eardrums. This kindness (which really is beyond the applause and extends to patience and encouragement in general) stayed with me on my commute home. I thought to myself, ‘to think that I did not even know these people half a year ago and they have made me so happy today’

I started thinking about everything this year has brought so far, that I could not have anticipated when at the beginning of the year, I sat and made plans for work and career. As I got off the bus and made my way to my exercise class, I thought about how there is so much for me to reflect on during the coming holidays.

I started thinking about what seeds I want to plant in 2025 and work goals and career dreams I wanted to see come to fruition. There was a brief moment when I thought to myself ‘and when reality hits…’

?In moments like this when I find myself pondering on a future uncertain, to encourage myself I often turn to my past.

Many (emphasis, ha) years ago, nine year old Moyo received a form at school to take back home to her parents. It was for the National Common Entrance Exams, that millions of Nigerian children like me, in their last year of primary school had to sit to gain entry into secondary school. There was a section on the form for top three choices of Federal Government Secondary Schools across the country.

I decided to fill out the form on my own. Afterall, I knew which school I wanted to attend. I wanted to attend what I thought to be the best school in Lagos. Incidentally it also happened to be an eye-wateringly expensive private school but nine year old me was oblivious to this. A google search informs me that the tuition fee ten years ago was around 20,000USD (insert gasp here).

Anyway, back to my story, I filled out the form with my number one choice, not bothering to write anything under the second and the third choice. Why bother? I knew what I had my heart set on.

I signed the form and I took it back to school the next day. It was not long before my parents were summoned. To my surprise (a common theme in this piece), I discovered amongst many other things that the National Common Entrance form was not the form you filled out if you wanted to attend a secondary school that cost tens of thousands of dollars. In case you’re curious, I did not in fact go on to attend this secondary school. If this was a face to face conversation, I would probably joke that if I could have attended a school like this, I really would not be here on these LinkedIn streets. But you must forgive me, my sense of humour is best appreciated in person.

This experience was the first time in my life I was truly confronted with limitation, a harsh reality of life. My parents, my father in particular, up until then had done a good job cushioning me. My father would later comfort me, selling me another dream that several years down the line would go on to be my reality.

I chuckle anytime I think of this incident. Mostly, I never cease to be amazed by the audacity of nine year old Moyo. She decided on what she wanted and within (arguably even beyond) the realms of what was in her power, she went for it (small issue of several thousands of foreign currency aside).

As I look forward to the holiday and making plans for the year to come, I can’t help but think that whatever realities eventually confront me, I want to be audacious. I want to channel nine-year Moyo energy into my work and career present and future. Between me and you, I do not think I am a person who takes many risks. I do things that are very uncomfortable, yes but I am filled with a sense that I could venture further afield. If there was a time to take more risks, it feels like it would be now.

What could this look like in my work and career, present and future?

I am halfway through my exercise class as my mind ponders this. My body is lulled into a rhythm as I lay on a moving carriage, feet in straps, with the movement of my legs setting the pace.

Soon, I am brought to reality by instructions I don’t quite hear. Then I am pleasantly surprised to hear myself asking a question that before today I had only uttered in my mother tongue.

I hear myself asking, 'Kun et gr?nt fjeder p??'