"Where do you see yourself in five years from now?"
"I always get confused whenever this particular question is asked; sometimes I wonder why people would ask such a question, knowing fully well that life is unpredictable and anything can happen at any time," I said to myself.
"Tari, are you here?" Sandra asked snapping her fingers to get my attention.
I woke up from that little slumber of being lost in my thoughts; now, what do I say so she won't repeat that question again were the next words that started roaming in my head. Immediately an idea came.
"Why don't we play a game, Sandra?" I suggested with my heart filled with the high hopes that she would second to my request.
"But you know you won't run away from such questions for the rest of your life; a time will come when you'll have to answer this particular question without blinking an eye," Sandra replied.
"Well, till then. When I get to that particular bridge in my life, I will cross it, so for now. Let's do something fun, and besides, you aren't trying to hire me," I said, putting my face away.
Fortunately, I was able to convince Sandra to play a game; we played our favorite game and forgot about the first conversation we had. After a while, it was already getting late, and our parents started calling. Sandra and I exchanged our pleasantries for the day and found our way home.
Walking to the house alone I felt the cold breeze blow; the night looked so calm that I could sense its peaceful nature from within me. My head started bringing back that question Sandra asked me earlier.
Initially, I was on the verge of ignoring it, but then it kept coming; it felt like someone was walking with me and was repeating that question; firstly, it came as a whisper from a very soft tone. The moment I ignored it became very harsh. I turned around to see if someone was talking to me, but unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone.
"Maybe I was talking to myself," I said, but then if I was talking to myself, I wouldn't have been that harsh to myself.
I tried to maintain a very quiet nature as I walked, but the voice kept coming with that question, "Where do you see yourself in the next five years?" Would it be okay to say "I don't know?" I muttered to myself.
I couldn't ignore the voice any longer, so I had to answer it. I stood for a while and reminisced back to the childhood dream I had. Back to the moment when I knew the profession I wanted to pursue, then I realized I wanted to be a chartered accountant. I loved the corporate wear that accountants wear, and I wanted to dress like that. I loved how they spoke, and I wanted to speak like that.
I love the problem-solving skills they possess, and I wanted to be like that. The moment those thoughts started flooding my head, I knew I was, for a second, deviating from my dream. The reality I was seeing was different from what I always wanted as a teenager growing up.
"How did I deviate from my dream?" I asked myself. I paused for a while and looked at the stuff I've been engaged in lately; it was entirely different from the career I've always wanted to pursue; how did I fall from that amazing dream I had? What happened to that passion of mine for accounting?.
These moments created the realization that I've been doing a different thing instead of pursuing what I've always had a passion for. At that moment, it dawned on me that I needed to restructure my steps and face my career.
I got home that night and wrote out my goal in my diary and titled it "The New Dawn I Experienced."
I called my friend that night before retiring to bed.
"I know what I want to be five years from now, I'm an accounting graduate and I don't just want it to end there, I want to further an amazing career in it, I want to be a professional accountant and by that I mean I want to be a chartered accountant for the federal republic of Nigeria".
"I want to be someone others will look up to and be like, I want to be chartered like Tari. I want to impact other people's lives as a result of my career, and empower young graduates on why they need to be chartered accountants". I said to Sandra on the phone.
"I had the feeling you'd get back to me but I didn't know it would be this soon. I'm glad you know what you want to be five years from now; welcome to your new dawn," Sandra said with excitement in her voice.
"Thank you, Sandra; I owe you one, and have an amazing night's rest," I said, trying to find sleep.
I woke up the next day feeling all refreshed and ready to find myself again.
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