In this week’s edition of #weekend-engagement, week 207, I would engage with the topic:
What have you tried but given up on in life? Explain it, why you gave up and how you would have gained from it, and what you lost by not following through.
When I was growing up in my teenage adolescent years, I saw myself having more flare for writing stories and creative writing. I usually would sit down and try to compose poems and songs. At the same time too, I love drawing. In my elementary school days, my friends knew me to be good at drawing. These talents were dominant in me in those days. I will always be looking for what to craft then. It was as if that would have been my main backbone in life. So, my early personal development life was that of creative arts. These were drawing, crafting, designing and decorations, story and writing.
I Didn't Follow Through With Them
Yes, I didn't follow through with these natural talents. I will tell you the factors that made me lose sight of them. But I want anyone reading this to learn from what I might have done wrong and use it to positively coordinate their own lives.
I didn't follow through because I lack background motivations. I call it background motivation because it should have come from my base. From the very family I was growing up in, there should have been encouraging motivation which could have stirred me up in that direction. But guess up! Every senior personality around me then never has a trace of foresight in a person making anything out of life with those talents we were playing with in those childhood and teenage days.
This is not as if they didn't want me or others to excel with what we had natural talents for. It was and is still the deficient attribute associated with parenting and educational framework of the Nigerian or African society. Our parents and elders do not build our lives based on what they see us good at. Rather, they fight to mold us to be what they see in others and observe that such would bring more money. Such foolish action has been one of the unseen factors of underdevelopment in the African countries. This I assert because we end up breeding people who have no inner motivation for what they are doing rather than college certificates. Consequently, they become useless both to themselves and the nation at large. So, the only option remains politics. That is why all the elite who had money to trend their children only give them political ambitions. Industrialization has died in our country because we were not encouraged in the area of our natural creativity.
What I Laid Aside
I have laid aside my ambition of being a scriptwriter and a filmmaker. I had thought then that my story writing ability and my drama creating talents would earn me a lot of income through the script writing and filmmaking efforts. I made an effort to contact professionals in those fields but lack of resources to start with killed the vision in me.
Another creativity I abandoned (not all together) is decorating arts. The talent of creativity in me was so compound that I could manifest it in several areas. I was very good at outdoor decorations. I grew up to some extent with that but later left it over for my siblings when I relocated from Uyo to Ilorin. Decoration work would have still been my source of income if not that when I relocated, I didn't understand the environment well so I could establish it there. With that I give up on that.
What I Lost By Giving Up
The main thing I lost isn't money. Many people will think that way. But, we must understand that money can come from many sources. If you miss one source, you could easily start up another source and still make money. So, making money isn't my factor in attaching importance to my talents and natural abilities.
What I Lost is the joy of living out that life that was bubbling inside of me. That fulfillment of doing what I took pleasure in doing. Being that kind of person I thought I would be in the society and making my brain work in the direction I took joy in going. This is the real thing I have lost.
Hive Blockchain, A Light In The Tunnel
But I am happy now. Even writing this post, I feel joy in doing so because Hive Blockchain has presented in my hands a platform to awaken my treasure that would have gone. I take pleasure in writing contests and engaging here because it gives me joy doing so. I take up every prompt I'm able and create contents with it. By this, Hive Blockchain has brought back life to me and has helped me take up the tools I have put down.