“If you like, give up” - Unknown

Young people have a lot going on in and around their lives these days, and I daresay it’s never been this hard being a “youth”, I am actively seeking data that proves it. For the nth time, a lot is going on in our world, globally there is inflation, war tensions, nationally (please fill in the peculiar problem (s) faced by your country of residence here). In my city of residence, there has been a heat wave crisis for months and everyone is behaving like it’s always been there.

It now looks like Traditional Media and social media amplify these happenings because there’s little to no filter (without conscious effort) for what one consumes. Unwittingly, we become sucked into other people’s lives. Personally, there is so much information that has come to my knowledge against my will, and when I remember some of these things, I am angry afresh. 

With all these come distractions, and they place a demand on your emotions inadvertently. I find myself in bouts of sadness that I can’t trace, there seems to be a heaviness in the air that wants to claw its way into everyone’s life. For your sake and the prospects of your future ahead, don't let it get to you.

There’s also, and more importantly, everything going on (and possibly wrong) in your personal life. Pressure mounts from oneself inwardly and of course, there are external pressures. Everyone and everything is giving you a target whether you admit it or not- rent, friendships, eating out, bills, etc.

There also seems to be this lull to just get through every day and take it one day at a time. It's great advice, especially in times of uncertainty and for a short-term horizon, but long-term, it's not a viable life strategy. There is a need to have a picture of what success looks like to you and work towards it. It's haunting that one can just wake up one day ten years from now going the “One day at a time” route and have nothing to show for all those years, aside from paying bills, consuming, and being a functional number in the population that didn’t die yet. 

I am humbled by great men/women in history/society who did great things/built interesting businesses. It occurred to me that they were/are regular people like you and I who may not have been so smart/talented, but knew the things they wanted out of life. I am also humbled at how mediocrity is a choice, just like excellence. One is seemingly easier than the other but they are both choices. I look at people living the life I want and realize that what makes us different is the choices we make.

The good thing about choices, though, is that most of the time, it's up to you. To live a life out of the ordinary and without regrets requires a certain level of discipline and showing up that merely coasting through life will not get you. Consistency will take you places you never imagined, and renew your faith in your ability to become more. It is unpleasant, painful, boring, embarrassing, and a host of other things everyone else would rather be exempt from. On the other side of all the drudgery one endures in the name of consistency, is a world of possibilities!

Regret is a harrowing thing to experience- like grief, it is rude and pervades your entire existence. It’s taken me a while, but I am choosing to bet on myself and give the future version of myself reasons to be proud. I am choosing to participate in everyday life and not blur my days with uncertainty and heaviness. I'm curating my life feed to receive/see things that spark joy and encouragement. I’d like to stop consuming so much and create. I want to be actively conscious that I’m living in a reality I curated for myself.

I’d like for you to be encouraged by this and take on your life head-on with excitement, but I’d like to state emphatically that real life sets in after the excitement wears away. Real-life experiences are rarely ever pleasant to experience, in the building phase of many great things are anxieties, doubt, many tears, losses, heartbreaks even, but the stories about them are quite profound and beautiful.

I hope yours is too.

Oreoluwa Anako