Recent Photos of me in a local epic drama titled 'The Priestess' Decree'.
This is in response to an initiative of @ericvancewalton, to make us walk down memory lane and relive those moments long gone, keeping them alive for our future generations.
In a year from now you’ll have a legitimate memoir that you can pass along to future generations of your family. But what I really hope is it provides a valuable glimpse into your inner self.
This week’s Memoir Monday question:
If you had the chance to do it all over, what would you do differently?
I wish above all things that I had studied the course that was in line with my passion and purpose, and that Mom and Dad hadn't interferred with my choice in that regard.
I was a grade A Art student who had this passion for the theatre Arts, until my parents decided that I would be a collosal failure if I towed that path, and that the sciences would equip me with better opportunities for the future.
I recount very vividly how I would bring a lot of talent and energy into any form of drama project. I would even line up some of my classmates to act roles of the characters in Grandma's many folktales. She was the best storyteller in the entire community and an entertainer par excellence. Children (adults too) would come from the nook and cranny of the village, just to hear her tell those interesting tales."
My performances were very good, everyone said so and I knew so.
Everyone seeks for a sense of purpose and fulfilment, all I wanted was a career that speaks to my passion.
So I left the Art class and into the science class but I felt like a sore thumb sticking out all the time, I just didn't fit in but I trudged along all the same. It was challenging for me learning physics and chemistry with all those long signs and symbols, though I loved biology a lot. So I struggled all through high school and 'made it' in my final exams to clinch a course in dentistry. I was seventeen. Again it was below standard for Mom and Dad, so they decided I would have to spend another year studying, to meet the cut-off mark required for Medicine(their dream course for me). So when I could have gone on to the university to read the damned dentistry, I stayed back to write a series of exams that didn't qualify me for three whole years. I became frustrated but Dad was adamant until Mom decided that it was enough and Dad danced to her tune, time was going, I am a woman with very limited time (Seriously? After four years of time wasted writing one exam after the other?☺️). So reluctantly Dad decided I could study the next best alternative course offered me.
That was how I eventually ended up studying Microbiology, a path I never liked, a career path I had nothing to do with.
I am stuck presently where I'm at, not because it's warm in here but because it pays the bills.
But did they mean any harm? No! They did what they thought was best for me but they didn't understand that I'm the one who knows what's best for me. That it was entirely my decision to make and not theirs. Yes, they felt I was too young to know what I wanted so they unintentionally 'ruined' my life, sentencing me to a life in the doldrums.
Trying to live up to someone else's expectations is the hardest thing to do and would always leave one unfulfilled, because it's like wearing a shoe that doesn't fit, either a tad too big or a tad too small.
I would have been a happier person if I had towed the path of my destiny. I would have been much more successful following my dream than theirs.
And that's the reason I never interferred in my children's choices, I assumed a very liberal disposition and just guided where necessary. I always told them,
You are born to do something uniquely you, find that special thing within you and go be a blast to your World.
So I encouraged them to follow their area of interests and lauded them over every 'little' achievement. And I tell you it's one of the best decisions of my life, watching them flourish rather than flounder the way I did.
When we all understand that we are given only one life to live, we will understand that our decision is sometimes what matters the most, it's always ours to make, not anyone else's!
Thank you @ericvancewalton for this noble initiative.
I am @edith-4angelseu and thank you for stopping by my neighbourhood.