Before You Judge, Live A Little

Looking back, the past five years of my life have been mostly about books. School, books, lectures, presentations and tests. Before I got into the university, I envisioned the lifestyle I would live. I had plans to take my education seriously as well as have fun to the fullest. I often envisioned myself going on picnics with friends. However, when I got into the university, I faced reality. I realized that the lifestyle I envisioned was far beyond my reach. My first and second years in university were very stressful. From one class to another, from preparing for tests to preparing for exams. I barely had time for myself, let alone Hive. My third and final years were a bit less stressful. We had fewer classes. It was after my final exams that I decided to have fun and explore. Basically, I did some of the things I envisioned to do before I got into the university and they went pretty well

The years I spent in the university were filled with many valuable lessons. Did I learn any lesson in school? Did school go through me or I just managed to scale through? Of course, I learnt so many things in school. I read books in a semester that I never imagined I would read in a whole year. The lectures built and honed my reading skills. Who would have thought I would be able to read more than 20 books in a semester? Not just reading them, but also analyzing them. Another great lesson school taught me is the importance of friendship. I made friends with good and goal-oriented people. In terms of good grades, we shared the same vision. We would have night classes, read together, and solve questions together and at the end of the day, we all came out with flying colors.

Interestingly, not all the lessons I learnt in the last four years of my life were from within the walls of school. Some of the valuable lessons I learnt were from outside the school environment. For today’s Hive Learner’s prompt, the community asks us to discuss a valuable lesson that we found outside the school environment and has helped shape our lives for better ever since. When I gained admission into the university, I left my parents’ house to start living on my own. In school, I was introduced to two worlds; school and outside school. In school, they teach you all about books, PDFs, files, presentations and all sorts. Outside school, you learn about life. School teaches you to be academically smart, but outside school teaches you about life and its complexities. One great lesson I learnt outside the school environment and has helped shape my life for better is; Never say it can never be me, just be grateful.

NEVER SAY, “IT CAN NEVER BE ME, JUST BE GRATEFUL.”

Many times, I have heard people say “It can never be me.” A friend once shared an interesting quote with me: “Life never show you shege, na why advice full your mouth.” This means that it is easy to give advice when you haven’t faced life’s real struggles. Until life humbles you, you’ll think every problem has a simple solution. I have also said “it can never be me” many times. For example, when I see people who are stupidly in love and go the extra lengths to do things for their partners or when I see people spending their money on drinks and weed, I go “It can never be me.” I have realized that it can actually be you. It can be you ten times over. It can be like you have never been any different before.

Before I gained admission into the university, I enrolled for a program called JUPEB. There, I met a lot of people. One of the friends I made was a very gentle and innocent-looking guy. He barely talked. He only talked around people he was comfortable with. While other people went for night parties, he would remain indoors, reading or watching movies. Almost everyone around him smoked, but he was different. I had a conversation with him one day and he said that nothing would ever make him smoke or drink. He told me that he doesn’t see why people smoke or drink to solve problems. In his words, “what’s the essence of smoking and drinking when you’ll come back to face the problems when you are sober?”

We gained admission into the same university and he was still like that, gentle and easy going. Life happened and we lost tough for more than a year. The next time I saw him, he was looking really skinny and dirty. His lips were dark and his eyes were red. I found out that he lost his mom, the closest person to him and that made him start smoking and drinking. He became addicted to it to the extent that he sold his properties. His dad had to withdraw him from school and take him to a rehabilitation center.

I know better now not to look down on people regardless of their situation. Don’t say it can never be you. Because if life should have your time, it will be you from head to toe. Instead of looking down on people or mocking them for their situations, just be grateful and prayerful.

Images in this post are mine.

Thanks for reading through.