HOW I SUVIVED DROWNING
Don’t Call me a Spaghetti
I was that fragile. Any slight change could cause me to snap and fall back into my endless world of overwhelming crisis. The year, 2023, was already a fortnight old and my new year resolutions had not taken shape outside my notepad. I kept asking myself, “why exactly are the days going by so fast?”… my mental health was hanging by a thin thread.
I came home after the cross-over Mass and once my phone got connected to the Wi-fi, notifications from Instagram were coming into my phone, uncontrollably. I took a sneak peek at my LinkedIn, what a whooping 56% downward graph over the past 14 days.😥 I didn’t want to be a mess but at that moment, I was overwhelmed.
I began looking for ways to resurface. I felt I was drowning but I still had hopes of survival. I needed the push of a wave to take me to shore. I waited for the wave but it never came. I decided to cry out for help and that was when I knew I had it in me to scream. I mustered every ounce of energy and yelled, “Help! I’m drowning!” At first, I doubt anyone heard me, I remained persistent. I yelled a second time, that was when passers-by noticed the dark haired lady in a red dress hanging on to a wooden board for her dear life, I.
After I had drawn attention, I was on the shore in less than fifteen minutes. A medical team had been called up to ensure my vitals were still good. I had survived drowning. I had thrived in the face of adversity. I was safe.
That is basically the routine of life. You begin a journey with almost no clue, that you sometimes get worked up. You burn your energy trying to decipher what has already been done before you. Sometimes, we wait to be spoon-fed(waiting for a wave) when we could just ask the right questions (yell) to the right people (passers-by). Guess what, when we ask the right set of questions to the right people, in little to no time, we’re are brought on to the shore and safe.
Always try to reach out, research, ask questions in the face of challenges. It is one of the few ways of getting past challenges we may face.
Ah! I hear you. Some of you may be thinking, I’m an introvert, I don’t really know how to communicate. Take a mirror right now and look at yourself. Put the mirror down, take your phone, Laptop or any device with access to the internet, now type in the name of anyone of high reputation in your field of study or career path on Google or Siri. Look at their pictures, if they look older than you, it’s no problem. Now look back at the mirror and repeat these words;
“I have what it takes to be successful. I can ask whoever I want for help and I would get help. If I don’t get the help I need, I will remain persistent and ask another person. I can send them emails if I’m scared of an in-person meeting. I will always carry out research, read books or listen to audiobooks to help me improve in my field. I will get to the top of my field. “
Write these down, take a picture of it or type and print it, and paste it in your room. Each day, read those words aloud and condition your mind to believe the words.
Wake up everyday with a zeal to be better. Take failures as hurdles you’d see on your path to the finish line.
It is easier said than done but note this:
- Study at least one hour each day in any field you want to develop skill in. It may be a book, audiobook, podcast, etc. Make sure you study.
- For the first two(2) months(about 66 days) of this journey you want to embark on, repeat those words I earlier stated. It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic.
- Create a deadline for yourself. You can say, in three(3) years, I will have read XYZ number of books in my field to develop my skill.
- Remember the task I gave earlier, to search Google or ask Siri for the top professionals in your field? Yes? Exactly, read up on their lives and use it as a guideline with a mindset to be better.
See you at the top because I have started the journey already.😂 Don’t be caught sleeping.
Kindly note that the story about drowning is entirely figurative, but lessons can be drawn from it.
Click to read my first ever publication in the Guardian Nigerian Newspaper
Yours truly, SHESPEAKSHERMIND247🥰
