Life & Seasons

At different seasons of life we all face different challenges and at the point in time each challenge looks like it would last forever, like nothing is going to be able to surmount it. Eventually, that phase comes to an end and somehow we move to the next, totally forgetting about the daunting task we just overcame.

If only we are perceptive, this would serve as a reminder and a soothing comfort that whatever BIG problem at hand too will be a distant memory soon.
My quick trip down some BIG phases:

As a child in elementary school, the early morning class tests were my greatest challenge, I worried about getting to class late and having to risk the headmaster's strokes of cane, then the risk of not completing the "morning tonic" as he loved to call the early morning quiz and as a result getting less than the required cut off mark which would ultimately lead to some more strokes of the cane.

Then quickly enough those days were over and I was in junior high, those days the greatest challenge initially was out smarting the senior students who had a thing for acting like the demi gods in school, and I sure had a fun time doing that, escaping kidnappers was the most interesting highlight of those days. Then soon enough the untold "agonies" of the boarding house followed and in the midst of that "nightmare' I had to ensure I got good grades in the national junior high exam and like everything else, that too was gone just as quickly as it came.

Next it was senior high heralding an "embarrassing" growth phase that seemed bent on making a fool of me. There were the boys who had been my childhood friends but now suddenly started acting really strange - like I was some alien of some sort and not the same girl with whom they had played catch and who could climb the tree fastest, others sounded rather scary with the new found cracked voices and now they became so self conscious where they used to be carefree. About that time came the flow that had always been the myth of junior high ARGH, that wasn't so much fun. Just as quickly came preparation for the final exams- mehn that looked just about like the end of the world but just when I thought it would never end, it was all gone and the College journey.

There was the projects, term papers, class attendance registers and the numerous assignments that characterized the 4 year blur and then it was all over. So I made it through that too and with a good result, next it was the much anticipated /dreaded NYSC in Nigeria - a worse jungle I am yet to see. The amenities (or lack of it) the dreadful slop called food, the 3 week camp and my 2 food diet for the entire duration. The endless match past, the new friends, the puzzled looks, the age jokes(ask me about that sometime) and the endurance walk (that was fun by the way) and finally camp days were over and the real trip was about to start in the inter lands of Enugu (nothing but the NYSC coulda taken me to the state).

The days spent working in an environment totally far from conventional office ("colleagues" speaking at the top of their voices in a language that makes me wonder if to try to appease both sides to stop the quarrel till I hear the sudden laughter that tells me it's a good thing I hadn't spoken out because they were just having a good time- but how am I to know when I've got no clue what they are saying and their facial expressions and the volume of their voices does nothing to comfort). Anyway that phase too ended just as quickly as it started and it was time to return to the comfort of the familiar.

Next came the job search, the endless applications with no acknowledgments, then the discouragements before the big answer came when I least expected it and there I was 1st of March on my way to my first job and just as I was settling into the role another job offer came but it sounded too good to pass up so there was I on a second job when I wasn't counting on it and a new journey started.

Looking back today, at the whole journey of life, I am assured that even this phase will be gone soon enough so I am determined to make the most of it and not get carried away worrying about the challenges that currently look insurmountable.

Whatever place or phase you are at make the most of it and remember soon all you'll have of it is memories. I know I'll hate to look back at my life and ask what was I thinking getting all worked up and considering what I know now (whenever that is), I'm going to live fully alive and enjoy every phase I'm at because I know it will soon be gone.

So will it really matter in 5 years? What would you see when you look back on today?