In Your Lane, At Your Pace , and Trust God’s time

In Life generally, people always evaluate themselves based on other’s achievements which could put them under pressure.?It is of course I guess a natural tendency because people would like to compare themselves with others . This is because we live in a society that tags successful people and non-successful people based on some indicators; marriage , house , Job, graduate , non-graduate, postgraduate ,PHD, studied abroad , studied at home etc. Though this may be right or wrong , it is important for people to just be grateful for who they are ,and what they have achieved or grateful for just being alive and healthy.

I was speaking to a friend who said she doesn’t attend?Ex- student’s(alumni) activities and I wanted to understand why. She said and I quote. “That place wey all man di come for show ye car or ye job or ye kids and success and rub it in?”(meaning its an avenue for people to show off) what about those who have not achieved any of those things she said?(she is from a very upper class school if you know what I mean).

I thought for a minute that she may be right . In all honesty, we see that a lot in ex-students’ forums , in Djangis(business meetings) , in churches etc. So, if you decide to run away from your ex-student’s (alumni)groups, you will have to run away from society. This is?because we are bombarded with people’s opinions and apparent successes all the time, I told her. You have to evaluate yourself and ask if you have made progress from last year to this year , from yesterday?to today, and not whether A has a car and I don’t . She laughed and said, ”It’s easier said than done”. I reflected about this chat for a while?and said this may be a reason many people don’t like to belong to groups,?especially those who feel as per society’s standards they have not achieved. But again, I confirmed that life is all about how you view yourself, and not how others view you. This?reawakening came as a result of my chat this week with some friends . If you live abroad mainly in the UK, you will note that its graduation season. A friend of mine who is my age sent me his picture and, on the?picture, , he wrote “finally” I looked at it and I was so happy for him. He had finally graduated In the UK and he is looking forward to what life holds for him. He had finally done his masters. When I reflected about it and how excited he was, I noted that this is a guy who evaluates who he was yesterday and who he is today and says I am happy am finally there. I sent him a text and told him that I love his tenacity and courage and that he will make a very good executive in a company one day. He jokingly said, “man don old oh”(am very old).?I was truly happy, and I said this is how we should look at life. He was truly excited and said, “small time I go come join wona for that wona work”(very soon i will join the development sector). I said am open to guide you join and will be happy to see you join us. Same week, I spoke to a friend again in the UK who finally decided that she wants to go back to school. She has been having ups and downs and said "its time, I have to go back to school" .She called me and said Vena I don finally get admission I di start for February?2022( i have gotten an admission and i start in February 2022). She is older than me , and this made to?reflect and said a lady who is older than me is starting?a?masters’ degree in February ,and people who are younger are thinking their life has ended. We spoke, and I was so happy for her. She has a clear path of what she wants to do when she finishes her one-year master’s degree. In order to really motivate her , I shared her a video of my friend who is a CEO of a company and?also a graduate from the UK . When she listened to the videos and connected with the lady friend online, She called me and said Vena , I made the right choice to go back to school thank you so much for encouraging me. “This lady ye videos di motivate me every day”(this lady's videos motivates me daily).?She said. These two case studies taught me one thing, at some point in my life I was thinking that maybe am late in achieving , maybe I will not catch up with my friends who have achieved faster than me . I realized from these two friends this week again and it had been a realization for a while that we really need to be in our own lane and drive at our pace . Your pace , My pace , His pace, Her pace will be different because we are and come from different backgrounds, and our realities are different. Do not let anyone’s apparent success intimidate you , you are already successful in your own right and all you need to do is to continuously grow in your lane and in your success.? Never?say never, never?avoid social gatherings because you feel your peers are more successful than you ,because success in all honesty is VERY SUBJECTIVE. Have a wonderful day and remember, it’s in you , all you need to do is to let it out. There is no room for doubts or self-pity. Go out there and conquer the world. Remember to do it in our own lane, at your own Pace ,and Trust God’s Timing*.

Venatius 22-10-2021