Never really sure how to introduce myself perfectly, do I just say my name and paint a picture of my hobbies, likes and dislikes? Do I talk about what I do i.e. my occupation and do people quickly form a perception of me based on that? Do I talk about things that have really shaped my life and made we who I am ‘the me’, or should I just ignore all the details and go with flow, live in the now and introduce myself based on how I feel #InTheMoment.
Sometimes I think of my life experiences (even though it’s still a young life ) and I feel like crying not because it’s a sad one, rather it’s a very happy one with unique challenges which one way or the other has made me a better me, each experience shaped how I thought of myself. You can call it a new layer of self-discovery, discoveries that always make you believe more in your abilities and see life as a journey where impossible is nothing and nothing is impossible. Each of those moments gives me a different perspective of how I see myself and how I’d introduce myself.
Life journey will introduce me as a boy who grew up in an educated middle class South Western Nigerian family, left home at the age of 10 for boarding school in the rural parts of northern Nigeria. Evolving through a 6 year period of not just studying but learning self-independence, resilience, adapting with the hard terrain of the northern part of Nigerian and making do with the little you have while trying to achieve the best grades to make your parents proud. This stage of my life has always stayed with me and defined me, if I reflect on this I would introduce myself as independent and resilient.
I will not bore you today with the many stories of my escapades, tears, moments of euphoria etc. that I experienced through my secondary school years, University or how I got into working with one of the best global bank in Nigeria post-graduation, I will leave those details for another day.
After my graduation in Nigeria and working for 2+yrs I decided I wanted some more challenge, so I decided to go for a Master’s degree in the UK. What did I do? I sold up all I had, to pay my school fees and left for the UK. This part of my life taught me the importance of effective planning and research. So I arrived in the UK with a draft (Cheque) for my school fees and £200 cash anticipating a considerable inflow of cash from a land sale for my sustenance, suffice to say the land sale fell through and that land is unsold till today. After a few weeks in the UK I was left with £20, had no one to turn to and I lived on £2 worth of loaf of bread/week with tea but no sugar and milk.
Going back to Nigeria was not an option as I had quit my job and sold up, I had paid my Uni fees and couldn’t ask for a refund, so my self-independence and resilience kicked in…. This part of my life I learnt to see the positive side of everything…. I decided that I wasn’t going to give up and I was going to pull through. Some Uni lectures were fuzzy, some were boring but studying was an unusual solace.
When I had just £5 left I started drafting a plan, I was thinking out of the box, walking into shops, restaurants, stores, betting shops, every and anywhere to see if they wanted to hire a part time worker and then I got one…. A part time job that fitted around my schedule for 20hrs a week and also paid a bonus. This part of my life taught me if you put in the right efforts and never give up, you will be ready when the opportunity comes calling.
I finished Uni and successfully bagged a master’s degree, got recruited after Uni by JPMorgan Chase…Oh forgot to mention I applied for over 200 grad jobs but only got called for an interview with JPMorgan, I aced it and got hired.. This part of my life taught me, you might only have one opportunity but when you do, apply yourself and make the very most of it.
4 years later I quit JPMorgan, just as I got promoted to managing teams across Asia, London & Tampa Florida… I decided it was time to move on again, this part of the journey and story I will tell another day.
Today I’m working on a number of things that I hope and expect they will positively change life across Africa, starting with Nigeria.
My life journey will thus introduce me as ..hmm… I will let you figure that out yourself.
Friends will probably tell you I’m reliable and will do anything to see my friends be happy and successful, they will tell you I have a charitable heart and love to see others succeed.
My wife would probably say I don’t buy her enough flowers but I care and I’m very loving (hopefully she doesn’t see this and say otherwise).
But how will I introduce myself today, I will just say hello I’m Abey nice to me you and its lovely to be here on steemit and I hope I enjoy the ride. Cheers.
