Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
~ Pablo Picasso.
I was really thinking about my life today and growing up in compare to my peers and I realized there’s something about me that I have always been glad about even though this growing up of a thing is becoming too much of a big deal or let’s say a heavy burden on my shoulder.
With the heavy burden, I am still grateful for life in many areas because everything I set out to do as a kid did turn out to find their way into my life. I could remember when I was saving up for my first Java phone when I was still in secondary school. Man those days were really fun, but my friends were all about playing POP and assassin creeds while all I was fascinated about was how the internet works.
So this made my childhood life really about exploring any new thing in the technology world even though all we were ever told back then was to go to school, get a certificate and get a job. Of course my dad was a teacher and so was my mom which made the pressure of schooling even heavier on my shoulder being the first child from a family of teachers.
All I was ever told was to make them proud by going to school and getting those good grades which I always barely did because I was so hooked up on having a mobile device and saving up for one because a priority that I had to start working menial jobs when I was about 10 to 11 years of age. I could still remember when my dad had to tell me of our neighbors to not let me follow him to work because it was too dirty, and I don’t need anything in my life that I needed the money for.
The man, of course, had to put my dads mind at rest that I wasn’t working too much but rather as a help buddy around the site. But I was really working like a maniac while on site just so I could get my first screen touch phone back then which was a blackberry bold 2.
The hustle back then wasn’t really about to e money but rather about my curiosity about this new shinny device everyone seems to be carrying all around and knowing my dad or mom won’t get me one I had to go get mine. My life has always been filled with curiosity as a child and while I was always beaten up for exploring my childish emotions I never gave up.
Luckily, up until now I still have that curiosity because I think this was what made the Hive and web 3 parts of things made sense to me because right from when we started having android devices was when I started trying to get into the dark web. But my dad always wanted me to be a doctor which luckily didn’t go through, no matter how much I try.
But the moment I have computer science a try, I aced all the exams and got in with the first batch into uni. This curiosity still didn’t end because when I saw what was being taught my lecturers in uni was when I noticed that they won’t be able to get me what I wanted because how can I tell my lecturers I wanted to learn hacking as a first year student when I was still battling with courses like biology, chemistry, and physics even now that I am I’m Uni.
Honestly, I hated these things because whatever I don’t get passionate about I won’t want to try at all because no matter how much I force myself I’ll never be able to satisfy my curiosity and to me, it means a death of me. Hacking was what I really wanted to give a go at when I was in uni but no one would be able to understand me if I say this is what I wanted.
In short, I had to scrape the uni bullshit at some point because it wasn’t giving me what I wanted. Of course, I lost all my friends in the process as some saw me to be a lazy ass guy while few saw me as a mad scientist who only gets fascinated about whatever he wanted to do. This, of course, was the childhood curiosity inside me that never died and up until today I am glad it hasn’t died because I am still pushing myself to the path of anything tech, and now I’m exploring web 3 and crypto plus other tech skills I’ve been exposed to along the way.
I had to think about this my obsessive lifestyle today when I saw a friend of mine who we were always in competition with ourselves about who’s going to get the best grades in school and I realized that his curiosity died the moment he entered uni and started working a job he doesn’t like. He told me about it all by himself and how he would’ve made the same choice with me back then, I f only he was strong enough. Even though he was able to satisfy his parents and make them proud, he told me he still feels like a part of him that wants to keep learning had died a long time because of how he was never really allowed to make some personal choices when it comes to his career of choice.
TBH I don’t know how to feel because up until today I’m still the stubborn goat or let’s say free bird of the family even with how long I’ve been able to carry my responsibilities without relying on anyone while those who didn’t take that leap are now regretting their choices. It makes me reflects on Picasso quite about the artist inside of us. I think I was able to keep that artist inside of me without letting it die, but the choice I had to make wasn’t easy and the pain lingers but I still don’t know if I should say I now feel better now that people are seeing me as an explorer.
Life really isn’t a bed of roses, but it is definitely what we make it to be by each and every inch of the choices we make. Luckily, I am still that mad artist who wants to get into the dark web, no matter how many times I’ve crashed my phone and have been up banned. I’ll keep trying regardless because that’s what artists do.
Thanks for reading
image created using grok AI
